Senses Lost
by Janthyra
Summary: Following a trip to visit a scientific conference, Sonic and Tails by chance run into Eggman testing his latest prototype. Ready to battle as always, things take an unexpected turn when Sonic is injured and captured by the mad doctor.
1. Chapter 1

Author's novel note: Weee! After Bad Fur Day, I thought I'd try my hand at a longer fic and here we are. This is technically my 2nd piece though I've posted other stuff before I posted this. Rather than writing this chronologically, I started with a basic idea though lacking any finer details, began with writing the most interesting bits and from there jumped from scene to scene, filling in the boring bits in between lol, as well as covering up plot holes as I could think of them. I hope this doesn't affect the story too negatively. Upside for you guys is that by the time I was ready to start posting this, a good portion of it had already been written, so hopefully updates will be relatively quick and regular (but who knows).

While rambling, I also want to take the chance to thank everyone who has posted reviews on the other fics that I posted before this. THANK YOU! I really appreciate it, it warms my heart to read those kinds and supportive words, especially the useful tips for the future.

I've tried to fix the most obvious plot holes as I've come across them, but if you notice any (I'm sure there are plenty!) please do bring them out and I'll try to account for them in upcoming chapters! This is my first attempt ever at writing a longer story so it's very much a learning process for me. Don't expect Nobel award level material… But as always, constructive criticism is appreciated! English isn't my native language and I need all the help I can get.

Enjoy!

PS. The story starts off rather slow so let's start with chapter 1 and 2 right away, shall we?

**Chapter 1**

In many ways, he approved of city life. The paved roads offered plenty of room for running – nothing like blazing down the freeway at top speed! You simply didn't get areas like that back in his native zone, though he would always recall the great green hills fondly.

He admired much of the architecture, too. Great reaching structures, ramps, rails, blinking lights, what was there not to love? A certain echidna would sometimes tease him by telling him that the fact he loved shiny things so much probably had more to do with a potential undiagnosed case of ADHD rather than any real appreciation of city architecture. He _would_ have replied something about the fact that echidnas knew nothing about cool design even if it hit them on the head, but usually at that point he had already run off in an attempt to conquer whatever building they had been watching by running up its sides, anyway.

Of course, where there were cities, there were humans. While Sapients did live in the city – some of them, like Amy, were even born there – they were a minority. Getting used to humans had taken some time, but a certain degree of natural born wariness when he arrived had quickly given way to trust and even affection. He had always prided himself in been able to see the best in others. Well, that, and the media attention and idolization that soon followed upon his arrival helped too.

And then, of course, there was the food. During one of their first walks among the streets, they had found a street vendor. They had been hungry, recently arrived at Station Square and uncertain where to find anything edible. Hesitantly, he had bought them a snack from the seller, who had assured them that they would approve of the treat. He hadn't had much money then and it had felt wrong to spend it on something he'd usually find on his own for free, but they had both been too hungry at that point to care too much. His metabolism was off the charts and required large amounts of daily nourishment, while the little kit had given him the biggest puppy eyes he'd ever seen as soon as they'd smelled the cooking meat. Fresh meat had been a luxury during their travels.

That first bite had been a revelation.

Suffice to say, after his first bite of a chili dog, Sonic had abandoned large parts of his species' native diet. Oh, he would pick and choose the occasional favourite treat while they were out in the wilderness anyway, but in this aspect, he would happily admit that if humans were good for only a few things, making great food was certainly one of them. And the fact was that while his choice of foods would have lent most humans little more than a soft belly and greasy skin, the high calorie-diet gave his body enough to work with to help him grow stronger still. Only a year after he had become a regular city dweller, the difference was clear – he had already grown taller, he felt livelier and more alert and, he noted approvingly, his fur had grown a shade darker and was looking shinier than ever. Granted, _finally _hitting puberty might have had something to do with that, but personally he preferred to thank the glorious chili dogs for most of his physical strengths.

After living there for some time, they had gotten used to the buzz and life of the city. There was something to be said for food and supplies always available near you – in particular when you could move as fast as he could, leaving almost _everything _available near you, no matter how far away it was. Tails had especially enjoyed having access to hardware stores and other places that could lend him materials and equipment for his experiments in robotics and machinery. His tinkering, fixing and upgrading of electronics of all kinds quickly gave them means of income when the young fox started to sell repaired equipment and even offer some brand new trinkets he'd built himself.

They didn't live richly, but they made enough to afford living in the city, to keep them supplied with foods and items they needed in their daily life, and most important, at least in Tails' opinion, to eventually buy the old building that they re-built into his workshop in the Mystic Ruins.

The workshop had been their biggest purchases to date, but also their most beloved one. Tails could spend days tinkering on some piece of machinery or other, while Sonic enjoyed returning to the surrounding wilderness now and then after a visit to Station Square. While he had converted fairly successfully to becoming a city person, he had kept some of his more… native habits, too. For one thing, he still preferred to sleep high up, and almost always preferred to rest in a great tree rather than huddle in a human sized bed. The noises tended to keep him up at night anyway. As a result, while both of them could often be seen dwelling in the city during the day, night time usually found the duo peacefully residing in the Mystic Ruins. Tails working on some project or other, Sonic dutifully watching over him from a nearby vantage point. In fact, this was exactly how one of their many adventures began, one summer evening.

Sonic had nodded off, comfortable on a large branch in a tree. He was almost completely hidden from view thanks to the foliage and had curled up as he had decided to take a nap. This particular branch sported a nice deep groove in just the right place, making it one of his favourite sleeping spots. The nap was quickly interrupted however as he startled awake, hearing Tails calling to him below.

"Sonic! You've got to hear this!"

The young fox looked ecstatic, almost jumping on the spot, twin tails twirling even more than usual. When he saw the drowsy hedgehog eyeing him tiredly, he carried on.

"It's a huge scientific conference in Northern Adabat! All the big names are going to be there, too! There will be seminars and lectures and demonstrations... They're going to unveil all sorts of new prototypes as well. We've just got to go!"

"Erm..."

Unsurprisingly, Sonic was not all that ecstatic about the prospect of sitting in a lecture hall listening to someone prattle on about the most recent ultra thingymabob or the brand new whatisit. Now, he did appreciate Tails' knowledge about electronics, it had really come in handy on many occasions. His own philosophy regarding his work with electronics and robotics was pretty simple, though. Mainly, it consisted of 'Sonic smash'.

Still, he couldn't very well deny the young fox this opportunity, he supposed. Tails rarely got the chance to discuss his big interest with anyone else and perhaps he could learn something that could aid them in an upcoming battle. Eggman had been quiet lately and there wasn't really anything stopping them from going.

"Alright kid, we'll go... On one condition: While you sit and listen to some old dude talk about gears and cogwheels, I'm busy running exploring the outdoors instead. How's that?"

"That's fine, Sonic!' the fox beamed at him. "Although it wouldn't hurt you to at least listen to one of the introductions - I'm sure you could learn something!"

"Eh, I leave that stuff to you. Where did you learn about this conference anyway?"

"Oh," Tails backed up a step, giving Sonic room to jump down from the tree. "I got an invite e-mail from the Adabat Scientific Centre. It said they've invited the best, and the most promising upcoming, engineers from around the world to come together and learn from each other. I'm so excited! If we leave first thing tomorrow with the Tornado, we should be able to get there in time for the introductions on Wednesday... that's only two days from now, but I think we can make it."

"Is that so" Sonic mused as he stretched lazily. "Bet Eggman's gonna be there to muck it up. Sounds like his kind of plan… he's been quiet for way too long". He watched the fox grow a thoughtful expression.

"I hadn't really thought of that. I guess he could try something, but then again there's bound to be lots of extra security, right? He'd have to be pretty stupid to try something at a place like that." Getting an idea, he smiled. "Of course, that means it's extra important that we go there so we can stop him if he does show up!"

Sonic couldn't resist a grin.

"Sure thing!"

And with that, they walked together back to the workshop, Sonic listening patiently as his little brother listed everything they'd need and what he would bring and what he hoped to learn and what he wanted to discuss, and...

"By the way, Tails, how are you going to fit all those gadgets in the Tornado anyway?"

"Oh, I'll think of something!"

* * *

The next morning found one rather annoyed hedgehog and one very excited fox. Tails had just finished packing the last of the food they'd need on their way there, stuffing an armload of sandwiches in a large cooling bag. The little plane was filled to the brim with electronics and gadgets, some of them fully functioning, some halfway there, and some he had no idea what to do with but hoped to get suggestions for. He had had a tough morning, trying to decide what to bring and what to leave behind. There were just so many things he wanted to show and discuss with someone as interested in electronics as him.

While many of the names on the invite list had been unknown to him, he had also recognized quite a few of them and he was just beyond excited at the chance of meeting some real experts. He was somewhat surprised he'd gotten an invite of his own, but he supposed word had gotten around after he'd used some of his inventions when they fought Eggman.

Sonic on the other hand had been ordered around all morning by the young fox and was rapidly tiring of it - get this, pack that! While he didn't begrudge his friend this opportunity, he expected the next few days to be exceptionally dull for him. The conference was going to be held at some big scientific centre or other, located in the middle of nowhere, in the vast Adabat wilds. Its location had been chosen to be as remote as possible, Tails had explained to him, so they could carry out experiments without risk of injuring any people nearby, and the endless dark night skies - there were no street or city lights near the centre - made the place perfect for astronomy related studies as well.

But all this meant for Sonic was that he'd be going to a dull place surrounded by dull rain forest - meaning no room to run freely - and even worse, the centre had to be located on an island of all places. As in, surrounded by deep waters, Adabat well known for its exceptionally harsh currents. Basically, he'd be stuck in that one spot with nowhere to go. He was already feeling bored just thinking about it, and they hadn't even left the workshop yet!

"All right, I think that's all!" Tails quipped as he closed the hatch to the storage portion in the plane's underbelly. "Everything taken care of? All doors locked?"

"Yeah, yeah". Sonic stifled a yawn.

"Alright then, let's go!"

Tails climbed into the pilot's seat while Sonic jumped onto the wings. He eyed the ropes and wires cautiously. Tails had, unable to fit all he wanted to bring in the storage unit, taken to strapping some of his equipment to the wings themselves. He had assured Sonic that it wouldn't affect their flying abilities. Though he also recommended Sonic grab a firm hold as they took off. You know, just in case.

Starting the engine and checking the controls, Tails motioned to the hedgehog, who gave him a thumb's up in return. They were ready.

"Here we go!" the fox yelled happily, and Sonic smiled in response at the kit's evident joy. The plane took off and the hedgehog watched the workshop grow smaller and smaller below them as the plane lifted higher into the air. Carefully, he sat down, leaning slightly onto some contraption or other behind him, securely attached with multiple ropes. They were on their way.

The trip was long and, as far as Sonic was concerned, beyond dull. One seascape looked much the same as any other and they were too high up to see much of the land, giving him little to look at other than the plane itself. Tails had preferred not to make any unnecessary stops, taking them down only once during the day for dinner and bathroom breaks. Sonic had taken the opportunity to stretch his legs by running around for a few minutes, before the fox ushered him back on the wing and they continued forward.

As night approached, Tails once more took them down, this time landing near the edge of a great forest for eating a late dinner and sleeping until it was time to take off again.

The next day continued in much the same manner, with little variation. Tails pushed the little plane hard and was glad to note that as the clock – recently adjusted for the new time zone – struck 10 p.m., they were finally nearing the island that hosted the ASC, the Adabat Scientific Centre. He shouted for his blue companion who was dozing on his spot on the wing, before contacting the landing tower. The remote location of the centre meant many of the visitors came by plane and fortunately there was a landing strip ready for them. Soon, he'd taken them down on the ground again, and they entered the area together.

Sonic whistled upon viewing the building. It was many stories high and he knew from Tails' explanations that it also continued underground. On one side, what reminded him of a giant telescope took up most of the space. Surrounding the centre was a park-like area full of smaller buildings, probably storage areas and similar. And beyond that, miles and miles of dark, foreboding rainforest. There were no lights on the outside, the area lit only by what light escaped from some of the windows.

"Some place, huh Tails?"

The fox laughed.

"Wait until you see the inside!"

They continued walking past the building, however, to another one located not far away. This was the visitors' centre, which also hosted simple rooms for people like themselves who were staying for longer than a day's visit. It reminded the duo of a simple but clean motel. They checked in successfully and helped unload the plane's contents into their room.

Sonic glanced around the white walls as Tails was busy looking over a few of his gadgets for any damage from the plane ride. The larger objects had been left by the plane itself, while the rickety desk was filled with miniature computers, high-tech equipment and, sitting closest to Tails, his trusted laptop. It had been one of the first pieces of equipment he'd bought when they had arrived in the city. While at first glance it would appear as nothing more than a regular old, worn laptop, he had done various upgrades to it over the years, to the point it was running quicker than most government computers. He used a rag to wipe a little bit of dust off it as Sonic sat down on one of the beds.

"So, when does this thing get started tomorrow?" Kicking off his shoes, Sonic laid back and eyed his friend, one ear flicked back as he was getting ready to sleep. He usually needed some time to relax and be able to sleep peacefully, but he was too tired to care right now.

"Oh, I have to get up early to catch it all! I'll set the alarm to 6, okay?"

"Fine by me… as long as you don't expect me to be up by then!" Sonic smirked at the kit, before yawning wide, rolling his shoulders as he stretched. Tails didn't reply, just waved at the hedgehog and smiled. No point in arguing with him – Sonic would do as he pleased anyway.

Content, they both soon fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Here's chapter 2! More action this time… down the road, anyway!

**Chapter 2**

In Sonic's opinion, there were some things that shouldn't be allowed to exist in the morning. Alarm clocks were one. An empty fridge was another. On the top of the list though, he would gladly place what was currently interrupting his beauty sleep – overzealous foxes. Grabbing a pillow and placing it over his head, he groaned loudly as Tails ran around the room, collecting notes and pens and equipment and gadgets, ready to run off to the first lecture, an introduction to advanced robotics.

"You coming, Sonic? The first seminar starts in 10 minutes, it's on robots!" Tails asked, hoping against hope.

"Urf" was the only reply, and the kit rolled his eyes. Nudging his friend twice before giving it up as an impossible task, he ran off, leaving a groaning hedgehog behind.

Sonic was a wary creature with lightning reflexes. Relaxing did not always come easy to him, but once his guard was down and successfully fell asleep, he was very slow to wake up again. It took several minutes before he groggily sat up in the bed, which looked rather more worn than the previous night, thanks to a spiky hedgehog treatment, and slowly put on his shoes and gloves.

"Robots, pfft" he murmured, rubbing his eyes and standing with a lazy stretch. Deciding there was no point in going back to that bed anyway, he took off for a morning run, planning to learn more about the surrounding area and, he thought grimly, look for signs of Eggman… just in case.

* * *

A few hours later, Sonic and Tails were eating lunch together at the centre cafeteria. Carefully, they had chosen the most remote table possible, though for very different reasons. Tails looked happy, excited and tired – he had just come back from unloading armfuls of notes and instructions, tools and contraptions, back into their room. After listening to two seminars and talking with various humans and even a few Sapients about robotics, he had learnt quite a bit and had even been able to offer new knowledge regarding the use of chaos emeralds to power technology – not a subject many beyond him – and Eggman, unfortunately – had been able to look into. Wanting to get as much rest as possible before the next seminar, he was hoping for some peace and quiet during lunch.

As for Sonic, he was getting quite tired too, although for different reasons. He was used to being followed around by fans whenever going into crowds, but this crowd was quite different than the usual ones. While he had indeed signed some autographs already, he had also been hustled by throngs of excited scientists wanting to know all about his speed and agility and how he could move like that and how his mind could process that amount of information so quickly and in what ways he was different from the regular Mobian hedgehog and he didn't know what else… Sonic had been willing to put up with the first few tests, mostly consisting of running/jumping around and looking cool (like always!) while the others took notes, but had tired of that game as soon as a few of the researchers were bold enough to start begging him for blood samples, chaos energy readings, x-rays and whatever else they could think of. By the time he heard the third "I promise, it's just a slight prick, won't hurt a bit!" he had decided that enough was enough and simply run off. At that point, he had been reminded by no one as much as Eggman – Chaos knew he'd had enough human-founded experimentation done on him to last a lifetime already. He had found Tails just exiting one of the lecture rooms and all but demanded they go do something else. Hence, lunch.

And so it was, they ate together, one of them very excited and barely able to chew on his chicken sandwich as he had so much to tell his older brother, the other one eyeing him quietly as he chewed on his hamburger (unfortunately, the closest equivalent to a chili dog around these parts) and looking not all that impressed with how the day was unfolding.

In Tails' defense, he was indeed trying his best to keep Sonic occupied. He knew this wasn't an activity the hedgehog would ever willingly choose. Sonic needed to be on the move constantly, or he'd go insane (not to mention drive everyone _around _him crazy with his pent up energy). To keep the hedgehog happy, he had suggested he explore the jungle around him during the days, which kept Sonic occupied… for a few hours. Following that, he had eventually proposed they take a trip with the plane. Sonic had heartily agreed.

As soon as they were done eating, they'd headed over to the plane. Tails had unpacked almost everything he had brought with him to Adabat – it'd just be them, no gadgets or electronics to annoy the blue speedster. Just like old times. They brought nothing with them but lunch and were soon ready to take off.

Once they were in the air, Tails was happy to see Sonic at ease again, quills flying in the wind, an adventurous look on his face, eyes shining with joy. He deserved it after putting up with Tails' interests for three days straight, the fox thought.

After an hour in the air, they had travelled a respectable distance. The ground below them was stretching out as an endless green carpet, occasionally interrupted by swirls of shallow rivers. Tails had been looking for a suitable place to land for some time, but had trouble finding a clear area large enough. At this point, they probably would have to turn back without actually landing at all – not something he looked forward to telling the fidgeting hedgehog who was just itching for a good run.

"Sonic, do you see anything?" he called for his friend, mostly to gauge his current mood. Here goes…

"Yeah Tails, I do!" Sonic replied, shading his eyes with a gloved hand. He sounded excited, but also thoughtful.

"What? Where?"

Tails looked ahead excitedly, but saw nothing but the same dark green below him.

"Seven o' clock, look! It's Eggman, I'm sure of it!"

Tails gasped as he looked closer in the direction Sonic pointed. He was right. There was something moving below them, something large, a robot of some kind? It was tearing down trees, great stems crashing down around it. What was it looking for? More focused on looking ahead, Tails would have missed it if not for the hedgehog's sharp eyes. It was Eggman, no doubt about it. Up to no good as usual, it seemed.

"What should we do, Sonic?"

"Oh, do you ever need to ask? Let's take her down right here! Obviously, he's up to something!"

Sonic grinned from ear to ear. Finally some _action_!

Tails, truth be told, was not all that excited about the idea of landing here. On top of that, he doubted they had escaped Eggman's attention, either. Surely he'd noticed the plane above. Circling the Tornado around, he eventually settled on landing on the edge of a barren cliff. Not a place he'd choose if he had options, but he didn't.

Fortunately, the landing went without any major issues. Their feet had barely touched the ground before Sonic had grabbed Tails by his arm and taken off. It took them several minutes to move the few kilometres through the dense jungle before reaching their final destination. As they neared, they could already hear the yelps of fleeing animals and whirring electronics as more trees fell.

Unbeknownst to them, Eggman was quite frantically preparing for their promised appearance – a guarantee now that he had spotted the plane going down some distance away. How in the world had they known to look for him here?! He was out in the middle of nowhere, he hadn't even attacked any nearby cities to draw attention to himself! It was only good fortune that he was at least operating one of his latest mechas when they saw him. True, it was still not fully finished, but the test run in the forest had been going well enough until he was interrupted. He supposed it was ready for its first fight. He moved its legs into position, waiting for the hedgehog to approach. He thought he could already hear a faint swishing sound through the forest. They were getting closer. As a last second preparation, he went over a quickly put together speech in his head.

Sonic muttered as he rubbed his arm over his forehead, wiping off a patch of sticky mud. What a place! He didn't mind forests, not at all, but when your preferred speed was somewhere in the category of "astronomical" you had a tendency to prefer more open landscapes when trying to move as quickly as possible.

"Over there, there he is!"

Sonic's ears perked as he heard his companion pointing ahead. He slowed his speed considerably so that he could let go of the fox without risking sending him flying as he lessened his grip on the tan arm. His plan was to leave Tails at a safe distance while engaging in battle. Tails defiantly jogged behind his friend as he walked closer to the doctor, though. He wanted to help, not hide.

Tails had been right on the money – between two large trees, in a small clearing littered by fallen vegetation, they saw it. Eggman had, unsurprisingly regarding the time it'd taken them to reach him, prepared himself, complete with one of the obligatory Evil Overlord Speeches. Cackling as they slowed to stand in front of them, he gestured to the duo. Good thing his plan was already well into action or he'd been completely unprepared for this. Still, he frowned as he considered this kink in his otherwise smooth-running strategy.

"Well, how unexpected to find you pests _here_ of all places. Come to visit me, have you? Well, I'll have you know you're already much too late… it's almost finished now, anyway. You've already failed… but if you want, I'll play with you for a bit anyway!"

Sonic snorted. He _knew_ the doctor had been up to something, as usual!

"They are aimed and ready. One pointing to each major capital of the world. At the press of a button, I will annihilate every major city on this miserable planet! And when I tell them that they are already at my mercy, they will have to submit to my will. It's so simple, I'm amazed I never thought of it before… I _will_ rule this world!"

Technically, that wasn't entirely true. Sure, it was his _plan_, but there were still some bugs in the firing mechanisms that needed to be fixed before he could pronounce his evil plot to the world, but he hoped to have that fixed soon. The hedgehog didn't need to know that part, though.

"What are you talking about, Eggman?" Sonic asked rebelliously. He had no idea what the doctor was pulling, but it didn't sound promising.

"Missiles, you idiot! One for Spagonia, one for Shamar, one for Mazuri, one for every corner of the world!"

"Sonic…" Tails whispered. The hedgehog turned to his brother upon hearing his pained whisper, and then nodded.

"Don't worry, we'll stop him here and now, then we'll find and disarm whatever he's planning to fire" he replied.

Eggman laughed at them.

"You need not worry! Your troubles – and lives – will end here and now! Behold, the Egg Mantis! " he took a step forward, bringing the mecha into full sunlight.

The robot reminded Tails of nothing as much as a giant praying mantis that had been squashed and then haphazardly put together again by someone who had only the faintest idea over what an insect should look like. It had six legs ending in massive metal claws, a surprisingly heavy body with a protective glass bubble where Eggman was sitting and finally, its major feature, two massive, long bent arms that had earned the robot its name, each ending in what reminded him of nothing as much as long razors, or perhaps scissors. They looked deadly sharp and he suspected they could strike at high speeds. As it were, his theory would soon be tested.

"Tails, back off!" Sonic shouted, waving behind him for his friend. "Stay safe, this thing looks nasty!"

Tails had wanted nothing more than to join in the fight, but upon seeing the massive mecha and its deadly claws, he realized he would hinder more than he would help after all. Looking around him, he found a great tree some 50 yards away. Hiding in a safe spot behind the stem, he prepared himself for cheering his big brother on. If only he'd had his own mecha with him! The Cyclone was still at home, though. There'd been no way to bring it with him all the way to Adabat.

Eggman let him go. The fox was of little importance – his main focus now being the far more lethal hedgehog.

Sonic on the other hand was smirking, relieved that his buddy was safe for the time being though as always he put on an expression of bravado. With a snort, he sized up the oversized metal insect… thing… before launching himself straight at it. Oh, how he had been itching for some _fun_. This was just what he needed!

"Time to put you out of commission for good, hedgehog!" Eggman roared as Sonic came at him with a yell of his own, though _his_ battle cry sounded rather more like something along the lines of "Teriaaah!" No wonder more than one person had sometimes wondered just what went on inside that blue skull.

A minute or two later found Sonic grinning wider than ever, while Eggman was growing more and more furious. Indeed, the robot had proven to have very sharp, very lethal arms indeed. Too bad they were simply too large and bulky, too _slow_, for the supersonic hedgehog.

"Take this, you pesky rodent!" Eggman bellowed, one razor arm flying in the hedgehog's direction once again as the blue blur sped around him.

"Actually!" Sonic shouted gleefully between jumps, smiling like a mad thing, neatly leaping from part to part on the great machine, a mischievous look in his eyes. "Hedgehogs aren't related to rodents at all!"

With a smirk, he aimed a hard kick at the razor-clad claw that came at him, damaging it and giving him the momentum to throw himself towards the opposite end of the hulking mass.

"Closer to foxes!" Diving his feet deep into the machinery, denting the hull. Not much, but it was a start. He took off again.

"Closer to bats!" This time he landed on the offending claw again as it snapped after him, grabbing onto a loose wire, barely visible in the metal joint, pulling fiercely. He heard Eggman's low curses as the claw malfunctioned and then hung limply. One down, one to go. Not to mention the grand finale, of course. Another jump. Next he landed on the slick hull of the main body, near the windshield slash bubble, standing on all four, using his hands to hold on as the robot lurched and moved awkwardly below him, its balance interrupted by the broken arm. He looked directly into the doctor's eyes, smirking.

"Closer to porpoises, would you believe it!"

While Sonic had a bit of a reputation, at least among those who had met him only once or twice, for being kind of… well, stupid, Tails knew better. True, he did have the attention span of a brain-dead goldfish and true, he rarely had the patience to pay sit still to listen to anything for more than 30 seconds, tops, but the fact was that the blue hedgehog was actually quite clever when he wanted to be. Much of his knowledge was on a more subconscious level – his grades had certainly never scored among the top percent in school back in the day, but he would never have been able to pull off his various feats without an extremely good eye and feel for pretty advanced physics. He may not have been able to put his knowledge into words, but his body knew. On top of that, his travels and many encounters with people of all kinds had given him the most random bits and pieces of knowledge, even if he rarely shared it with others and it was anyone's guess how much he knew about any given subject. You never knew what had somehow managed to stick to that quick mind. This was one of those times – Tails had no idea Sonic was that familiar with his genetic heritage and couldn't help but smile as he listened to his big brother's lecture in the midst of the action.

A lunge, a well-aimed sneaker and a loud crash followed as Sonic crashed straight into the windshield, broken glass raining around him. With a shriek, Eggman pressed one of the buttons as he ejected himself into the mandatory escape-ready hover pod. Sonic landed on the now empty seat of the mecha, tsking over the many controls before him. Far too many, in his opinion. Perhaps it was time to get rid of some. Left uncommanded, the robot was now standing still, giving him the opportunity to jump highly into the air, roll into his trademark spin-dash and dive straight for the instruments.

Unfortunately, Eggman had not given up yet. He had one trick left up his sleeve. Now a nice, safe distance away, already moving fast across the sky, as if he was in a hurry to leave. With a distant shout, he pressed a great red button on a small remote, previously hidden in his hand.

"Well then, take this, you cousin of a porpoise!"

A horrible, loud screech erupted from the still untried robot as it jerked wildly. What exactly it was meant to do, they never figured out. The spindash, combined with the previous attacks, had severely affected the robot's ability to function and Eggman cursed loudly as his recent masterpiece did little more than move spasmodically as if having an epileptic seizure, all the while making that horrible loud sound, blocking out everything else. Sonic stopped his path of destruction to grab his ears in agony, adding a yell of his own to the cacophony as he balanced as well as he could on the torn seat, or what remained of it. He clenched his teeth and his ears were flat against his head as he covered them with his hands. He looked like a perfect picture of unexpected pain, desperately wanting to get away but too surprised by the sudden onslaught of painful sound waves to move. For that moment, nothing else existed in his world other than that excruciating uproar. Tails winced and hunched lower where he was, further away but still far, far too close in his opinion. His own sensitive ears were ringing and aching with the sound and he tried his best to cover his ears too, counting his blessings that he was further away from it all, a low whimper escaping his throat. Knowing the battle was lost and that Sonic would come at him any second now as soon as the mecha stopped its rampage, Eggman fled as quickly as possible, soon no longer visible among the clouds.

Then the robot exploded.

* * *

Author's note: Ooooh cliffie!

Also, Sonic's right, you know... Despite Eggman's favourite insult, hedgehogs aren't even that closely related to rodents, and I have to admit it pains me a little inside every time someone refers to him as one in their fic (animal nerd alert!). Their closest relatives are moles, shrews and moonrats... Which granted is not helping my case as people probably think of those animals as rodents too lol! Hedgehogs belong to a superorder (group) of mammals called Laurasiatherians. Among others, this group includes carnivores, whales, bats, most hoofed animals... and hedgehogs. So a big, big group of very diverse animals. Rodents on the other hand belong to the other great mammal superorder, Euarchontoglires, which also includes lemurs, primates (including humans!) and a few others. So, hedgehogs and rodents don't even belong in the same Superorder - meaning they are only very distantly related. From a genetic viewpoint, Sonic would have more in common with a cat or a pony than he would with a rat! In fact, he's more distantly related to them than you and I are. Genetics be crazy. So, the next time Eggman calls Sonic a rodent, know that he does it as an insult, not as an actual description of his relation to other animals :P


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: On with the story! This chapter is a little shorter than the previous ones but sometimes that's how it goes. At least you were not left with the cliffhanger for long… technically you kinda get a new one instead I guess but… XD

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Coughing, Sonic rose from the ground on shaking legs. Dust had settled on a good portion of his fur and he shook his head in annoyance, pebbles and dirt flying off him. His mind was not yet fully back in action, but instinctively he looked over himself for any major injuries. A few minor cuts, nothing lethal. He had been exceptionally lucky. The explosion seemed to have started near the legs of the monster-like robot and the thick metal on the undersides of its body had protected him against the worst of it. Perhaps Eggman had put that in as a safety measure if Sonic attacked from below. Or perhaps it was just a design flaw. Sonic suspected the latter. He coughed and rubbed his arm over his face.

Most of Sonic ached, the pain centered around his temples, though a sore spot covering a couple of his ribs were doing their best to get his attention as well. Fortunately, nothing appeared to be broken. Relieved, he looked up around him to inspect the surrounding area, before his expression turned to confusion. He put one finger into his right ear as if to remove something stuck in there.

After the explosion was over and all appeared calm again, Tails jumped out behind the tree with a strangled cry. Was Sonic okay?! He sighed in relief when he saw the blue hedgehog carefully getting to his feet in the distance. Fortunately Sonic looked, all things considered, to be in pretty good shape. Just a few shallow cuts and a good deal more dust in his coat than usual, but that appeared to be about it. Still, better make sure.

"Sonic!" Tails ran up to his big brother. "Are you okay?"

Sonic didn't seem to be paying Tails any attention as he approached, busy putting his finger in his other ear instead and wincing slightly as he did so. He startled visibly as Tails grabbed his shoulder and turned to face the fox, a worried expression on his face. He saw the kitsune's mouth move, but no sound came out. In fact, he noted with increasing worry, he couldn't hear a single thing. No sizzling electronics, no wind among the trees. Nothing.

"Tails, I can't hear you!" he said, quite a bit louder than necessary, considering how close Tails was standing.

"Wha… What do you mean?" Tails stared at him in disbelief. And fear.

Sonic saw Tails' mouth move again and though he wasn't much of a lip reader, the message was clear in his eyes. Gritting his teeth, Sonic pointed to his ears.

"I can't hear a thing!"

Tails was dumbstruck. Sonic had faced many explosions before, not rarely at close range, and nothing like this had ever happened. That unbearably high screech followed by the explosion so close to him must have done something to his ears. They needed to look into this more, to know what action to take next. This changed everything, instantly. Tails begged to every Mobian deity he had ever heard of that Sonic's newly acquired deafness was not permanent and that he'd be back to normal as soon as possible. Right now, preferably.

"Tor-na-do" he told the hedgehog loudly, pronouncing each syllable as clear as possible as well as gesturing with his arms. Sonic understood what he was trying to say and nodded. His expression worried, he grabbed the fox and ran off at the highest speed he could muster in his current state, Eggman's whereabouts for the moment forgotten.

Once they reached the plane again, Tails brought out the first aid kit as well as his trusted laptop. Waiting for the laptop to start up, he took a few cotton pads and rubbing alcohol, treating Sonic's scrapes and cuts. There was nothing in there that would do anything for the hedgehog's ears, so he didn't bother to look at them. Sonic, normally prone to whining and moving through such ordeals, was oddly calm about it all, his mind elsewhere.

A couple of minutes later found Sonic leaning against the cool metal hull of the plane, arms crossed behind his head, ears flicking in every direction in an attempt to catch any sounds around him. His face wore a thoughtful expression and he stared ahead as if lost deep in thought. Tails meanwhile was desperately reading up on sudden hearing loss.

"Okay," the fox took a deep breath. He had read through various website. At this point, he'd seen enough. Sonic showed no reaction to his words, still staring ahead. Tails briefly considered how exactly they were going to communicate like this, finally settling for typing a brief message on the laptop's word processor. After entering his message, he stood up and handed the laptop to Sonic, who turned his gaze to the words on the screen.

_It says hearing loss can be caused by a sudden loud noise. It could be temporary, or it could be permanent. Can you hear anything at all?_

After reading the message, Sonic shook his head, his mouth a straight line. Tails sighed heavily before taking the laptop back and writing a new message.

_We have to go back. This is far too dangerous now. You need to see a doctor. Maybe they can treat you. The websites said you usually have to wait and see what happens, but there are some potential treatments, too._

Sonic was given the laptop again and read the new message. He pursed his lips and seemed to consider his options, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Eventually he shook his head regretfully, turning his eyes to the fox again.

"Sorry kid. There's no time. We have to go on."

He spoke loudly and his words had a slightly unusual ring to them as he couldn't weigh them as well as usual, unable to hear them himself, but he still sounded as confident as always. Now it was Tails' turn to shake his head. He spoke, before remembering that Sonic couldn't hear him anyway.

"No way, Sonic. You can't!"

Sonic gave him a lopsided smile and handed him the laptop again. Tails repeated the message, this time on the word processor. Sonic put a hand on the young fox's shoulder, followed by a light rumpling of his bangs.

"Like I said, not enough time. You heard what he said. He could shoot those missiles _now_ if he wanted. I have to go. I can handle anything ol' Eggman throws at me, you know that! I'm sure my ears will be fine again in no time, I don't need them to run, anyway. I'll just go there, smash his stuff and return. It won't take long!"

Tails didn't have the heart to tell Sonic that there was a good chance that his hearing was gone forever. Or that even if it returned, it could be severely damaged. He'd be lucky to not develop tinnitus in that case, too. His own ears, while still functioning, felt sore and very, very sensitive. There was simply no way he was going to let his big brother run off deaf. Sonic might have been certain he could outrun anything the mad doctor put him up against, but Tails knew that _seeing _something was only a part of fighting. Unable to hear any oncoming danger, Sonic would be at a severe disadvantage. It was simply too dangerous.

"Please, Sonic!"

Tails grabbed his big brother's arm, hoping against hope that he could talk… well, type, some sense into him. Their best option now would be taking Sonic to the hospital to try to find out if this was permanent or not. From there, they'd have to try to contact someone else to help them get this whole mess taken care of. Maybe Rouge could help them find someone suitable. Who could pull off a task like this he didn't know, but certainly there had to be someone! Where was Shadow right now? There was just so little time… but Sonic's safety had to come first.

Sonic looked down on the fox, an uncertain smile on his face as the fox typed a final message on the laptop.

_Let's at least take a break, okay? We can eat, rest for a bit and discuss our next step from here._

"Alright buddy."

Relieved at Sonic's co-operation, Tails' ears perked up somewhat and he returned the first aid box to the plane's storage, exchanging it for their cooling bag and a bottle of water. They sat down together in the shade of the plane, each holding a sandwich.

They ate together in silence. Sonic appeared unusually deep in thought once more, paying little attention to the world around him. Ears that would usually flick at the slightest unfamiliar sound, always wary and ready for danger, were now held still and unmoving. Tails on the other hand was acting nervous enough to make up for the other one's unusual stillness. Partly due to the whole situation they were in, but even more so he was worried about the look in Sonic's eyes. Probably no one but him would be able to see it, as he was very much trying to hide it. But Tails knew his big brother's every look and he had seen that one before – Sonic was planning something, something he knew the fox wouldn't approve of.

Bringing his laptop back again, Tails soon was hurriedly typing into the word processor again, though he had trouble phrasing himself. What words could convince Sonic to do as he asked, to make him go back? Tails understood what this would mean for everyone's safety – it would give Eggman plenty of time to carry out his plan – but what other options did they have?

Sonic, meanwhile, was trying his very best at being his usual, innocent, self, though Tails wasn't fooled in the least. He had just finished off the last of the sandwich and was currently busy cleaning crumbs out of his chest fur.

Worried, Tails gave him the laptop.

_Okay Sonic, time to go back. Jump onto the wing, please?_

"Will do, buddy!"

Tails sighed in relief. Thank Chaos the hedgehog was co-operating. He had honestly expected him to disobey him. Jumping into the pilot's seat, Tails gave his friend a thumb's up. Sonic smiled uncertainly in reply as the fox checked the controls. Almost there… Just a little longer to be certain…

The plane started to take off, Tails fully focused on getting into the air without causing any harm to either the plane nor the surrounding forest. He tried not to pay attention to the rocks and pebbles moving underneath them as the plane uneasily climbed into the air. He was already contemplating which doctor's office was closest to their current position and considered trying to contact the scientific centre for additional suggestions.

The angry yell that followed once the Tornado was slowly starting climbing the air and Tails had his attention elsewhere, only to have the hedgehog jump off the plane, rolling to a stop before taking off with a sonic boom accompanied by a "Sorry buddy, there's no other way!" could be heard at least a kilometre away in every direction.

"SONIC! Come BACK!"


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: On with the show! This chapter is at least a bit longer than the previous one.

**Chapter 4**

Sonic hated to deceive or trick his little brother. He really, truly did. But he saw no other option. This was the best way. There was simply no time for him to head back to civilization, then to a doctor – and Chaos knew how slow _they_ were – then go all the way back and find Eggman's new base. No, he had to take care of this _now_. He knew he could take on Eggman even with _all_ of his senses gone, anyway, so he wasn't that worried.

His progress was slow, by his standards, fighting his way through the undergrowth, mindful of roots and rocks that could lend him a sprained ankle. After a while, he even considered if it wouldn't be faster to try to make a raft of some kind and float down the river, but the prospect of horribly drowning when falling off (which he was sure he'd do at some point or other, given his recent bad luck) made him re-consider that option.

Fortunately, he remembered the way they had been going (the multiple skid marks and ruined undergrowth helped) and after a strained trip through the jungle, he noted familiar surroundings again. He was close. Time to settle this once and for all – the doctor couldn't have gone that far, those hoverpods weren't too fast. Snarling, he passed the wreckage of the Mantis. This time, he noted a dirt road behind it. Surely, it must lead to Eggman's base. Now, blessed with room to finally _run_ again, Sonic could pour on the speed and run in earnest. He noted how the trees became more and more sparse, the dirt road larger and more well-travelled. He _must _be getting close to Eggman's base, no doubt about it.

Sonic's joy at finally having ample space was unfortunately cut short only a minute or two later. Forced to stop a mere kilometre from the base, though he didn't know that at the time, he was glaring up at Eggman, again. Well played, doctor, well played.

Another mecha, not unlike various ones they had seen previously. Roughly humanoid, large and bulky, with massive feet and two equally massive arms – one with a claw-like grip, the other hosting a massive gun of some kind. Instead of the usual red-black-yellow colours, this one went almost entirely in shades of green and brown – to melt better into the scenery, he supposed. Sonic had seen this type of mecha before, though. Piece of cake, really – he just needed to reach the area between the mecha's head and its torso – the place where Eggman was hiding in a protective bubble of extra strong, reinforced glass of some kind. Same as the Mantis, pretty much. The only thing that could potentially slow him down, as far as Sonic was concerned, was the thick undergrowth surrounding the small glen where they were currently standing – vines, ferns, mud and Chaos knew what else. There was far less room for him to move here than usual, but no matter. He could do this with his eyes closed, anyway. With a snort, he glared at the doctor.

"I knew you'd come back, you imprudent_ rodent_!" Eggman all but growled at him, putting even more weight into the favourite insult, apparently already ready for the next round. When did he have time to build all these bases and mechas, anyway? You'd think each mecha would take months to finish. Not that Sonic really cared. He was just itching to make things even. Time to make Eggman run off with his tail between his legs – again. He'd make sure to put in a few extra hits for his damaged hearing, too.

"Let's get this over with!"

A few minutes later found the hedgehog, unexpectedly, at a disadvantage. He had noted, quite worriedly, that this was not at all going as he had planned. Unable to hear the mecha's movements behind and around him, he was resorted to relying almost entirely on his eyes, constantly looking around him, ducking, jumping – and getting the chance to attack only once in a while as a result. Already being low on energy after the most recent battle didn't help, either. His sore ribs screamed in pain and he could feel various of the small cuts re-opening under the strain.

Unable to rely on his ears, he had had to resort to being quite a bit more defensive than usual, and did not dare attack the mecha fully head on as he normally would unless he was certain there was nothing behind him. Which he rarely could be, with those damn arms flying everywhere. He had found out, very narrowly escaping their clutches, by the way, that the arms were fully extendible, shooting after him from all directions as they moved together in the underbrush. One trying to shoot him, the other trying to grab him. He wasn't sure which was preferable.

Even Eggman appeared surprised at Sonic's lack of progress – alternatively insulting his seeming lack of enthusiasm, not knowing the real reason behind it, alternatively praising his own brilliance at giving his opponent a run for his money.

Gasping with effort, the hedgehog had paused for a moment, standing on a great root and glaring at the robot before him. Eggman was aiming the weapon once more, ready to fire off another round of deadly bullets. A good deal of them were already visible around them, lodged deep into the ground.

"Ready for another round, hedgehog?"

As he readied himself to fire, Eggman thought he suddenly heard a distant hum, glanced up at the sky and cursed. Not now, not when he was so close…! Had his ears still been functioning, Sonic would have heard the whirring of a propeller behind him as well. He didn't, but he suddenly noticed that Eggman looked a shade redder.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted, not caring that the hedgehog couldn't hear him as he came in lower. "I'm coming!" He had seen them, finally he had seen them, and even as he thought the hedgehog seven types of an idiot, he was readying himself to help him as well as he could. Go figure Sonic had gotten himself into another battle already! The Tornado was not equipped for combat at this point in time, but he had a plan all the same… a feeble one, but it was the best he had come up with at such a short notice.

Aiming the plane downwards, to all appearances readying himself for a kamikaze mission, Tails dove towards Eggman who shouted angrily in response, forced to make the mecha get out of the way and leave the hedgehog for the moment being. Seeing the doctor turning his attention to something behind him, Sonic turned as well and broke into a grin.

"Tails!"

The fox in question continued to lose altitude, now dangerously low to the ground, the wings already clipping branches and bushes, rustling greenery falling around them like snow. With a snarl, he almost rammed into the mecha, which only barely got out of the way. Fortunately, it was all that Sonic needed and he leaped up, aiming a lethal spin-dash after the scientist in his protected seat.

Eggman, in an attempt to set priorities, hoped feverishly that the protective layer would hold up to at least one deadly spindash. He had to get rid of that fox or he'd never get a new chance at the hedgehog. As Sonic crashed into him he was sent flying back in his seat, head slamming painfully against the neck rest, but the glass held, though it had left a sizeable crack. Whew. The hedgehog was back on the ground, aiming for a new attack.

Sighing in temporary relief, Eggman again focused on the fox who was coming in for yet another dive. Uprighting the mecha from the half-crouch Sonic's attack had left it in, he waited until the last second before lashing out. Whether it was pure luck or skill he wasn't sure – perhaps all those years of fighting a supersonic hedgehog had paid off – he laughed gleefully as the great hand of the mecha managed to slap the plane's wing clean off as it came in for another dive. With twin screeches – one from the plane itself, one from its pilot – the Tornado fell to the ground with a clash. Fortunately it was a low fall, but it was still a dangerous maneuver with a great risk of injury.

Panicking, Sonic hurried over to his friend to make sure he was okay. Calling, over and over, looking for signs of life, he was relieved to see the fox attempt to crawl out under the debris.

"Sonic, watch out!" Tails coughed, pointing behind him. He was mostly unhurt, though still stuck under various parts of the wreckage and unfit to fight. Noting his worried expression, the hedgehog turned around from trying to help his friend, very barely missing a swipe that could have broken his neck with the impact. With a snarl, he ran back to the mecha. Now it was _personal._ He aimed for another spindash to the reinforced glass bubble, hoping to take out it like the Mantis (though preferably without the screech – then again, he supposed, it wouldn't make any difference this time no matter how much of a sound it made upon destruction).

Eggman glowered at his opponent, very much suspecting the glass would break if there was another hit. He backed a couple of steps, bringing up one of the arms to aim at the blue hedgehog before him. With a snarl of his own, he let lose a salve of deadly gunshot, hoping against hope to get a hit in. No such luck, though indeed he was not out of luck all together – while Sonic busied himself with jumping back from the approaching weapon, he didn't hear Tails' strangled cry behind him.

"Watch out, Sonic!"

It was such a silly thing. A harsh slope, a muddy one at that, littered with a tangle of vines. Unable to both look behind him and avoid the gunshot, Sonic took a jump back only to slip and slide down the slope with a surprised yell. Shouting in triumph, Eggman followed, using the claw-like hand to grab the dazed hedgehog in a vice-tight grip.

"Damn it!" Sonic cursed as he felt himself forcefully lifted off the ground. He struggled fervently, but to no avail. He was caught. Had his ears still been functioning, he would have heard Tails terrified scream, but instead he focused on trying to breathe as the mecha squeezed painfully tight, forcing a cough from his abused abdomen.

"You're _mine!_" Eggman whispered fiercely, his tone almost possessive. Laughing manically, he wasted no time. The mecha sprang back, quickly leaving the sobbing fox behind as he took off into the jungle, a tight grip on the very much pissed off hedgehog. Tails continued to scream angrily for over a minute after they had gone, painfully dragging himself out from under the remains of the plane, shouting for his brother, Sonic, Sonic, come back… You deaf idiot, why did you run off…

Nothing. The jungle was quiet around him, as if there hadn't been a battle there at all. The only signs anything had occurred at all, beyond Tails and the broken Tornado, were the bullets lodged into the vegetation, along with some broken plants and prints left in the ground.

Tails stood on shaking legs, leaning against the remains of his plane, defiant tears in his great blue eyes.

"Sonic, I'm coming!"

* * *

If Sonic had thought the recent days had been rather dull, this trip more than enough made up for it, if for all the wrong reasons. He had been hauled through the woods in the fierce grip of the mecha, like some sort of deranged doll in the hands of a very, very bad child. Gasping as he was manhandled through the trees, with an additional bonus of the occasional insect slapping against his face, he sighed in relief when they neared the base and slowed down. The place in question appeared to have been built into a cave of some sort, neatly camouflaged by trees and bushes, actually looking unusually inconspicuous as far as Eggman's creations went. Suppose he was learning to be sneakier after all these years.

Bringing the mecha to a stop in a large building that must have served as a garage of some sort, Eggman lowered its arm before exiting the machine.

"How very nice of you to stop by, Sonic. Let me show you around my new place, won't you? I won't lie, I had no expected you… so soon. I mean, I hadn't even announced my plans yet! Fortunately for us, I always plan ahead and I have _just_ the place ready for you. Just _hang in there_ while I get it ready for you…"

Sonic rolled his eyes at the excited doctor. He may not have heard him, but he had heard enough Evil Overlord Speeches to have a good idea over what was being said, anyway. With a slight cough, he tried uselessly to shift in the mecha's grip, very much angry with himself for being captured – and so easily, too! The fox would never let him live this down… as soon as he'd freed him. Hopefully.

Eggman wasn't taking any chances. He knew that the moment the mecha loosened its grip, the hedgehog would break free... and quite likely trash everything around him, too. Not to mention, almost certainly fly straight for the doctor's throat. As a result, he decided to ensure that the hedgehog would be going quietly. Even as he called for back-up from within the base, he raised the mecha's other arm over the hedgehog's unprotected head.

"Hey, wait, what are you... owww..."

Following a surprised yelp, Sonic stopped struggling, head lolling forward as the massive arm was raised again. The mecha had hit him square on the top of his skull with its massive gun, knocking him out. With a low groan, Sonic fell limply to the ground as the mecha released him, several robots quickly appearing from within the base to lift him and take him to his cell.

Truth be told, the doctor_ had_ not yet been fully prepared for the hedgehog's arrival. His plan had been to remain hidden in this Chaos forsaken jungle, where his base would, he had hoped, remain completely hedgehog-free for once. He did not think Sonic would have come all the way here to search for him even after his planned announcement two days from now. The missiles had been aimed just hours earlier, still awaiting the last minute tweaks. Blast that conference for bringing the hedgehog and his furry friend here - and they had even had the nerve to not send him an invite. _Him_! The greatest mastermind on the planet! No one rivaled his knowledge on robotics! Well, he'd show them. Two days more, he told himself. Just two more days, and the world will be yours.

Still, he was at least _somewhat _prepared. At this point he had plenty of experience when it came to dealing with troublesome prisoners of all kinds and one of his first steps when assembling a new base had always been ensuring that it came complete with a set of heavy duty, hedgehog proof cells. And so, he happily led the hedgehog, still out cold, to his new "home". Good thing he had that cell waiting already!

At first glance, it looked much like a typical prison cell, three of its walls dull grey and bereft of any decorations. The fourth side was made up a thick array of metal bars, stainless steel coated with chromium. They had been especially prepared for the hedgehog... just in case he found his way down here. No spindash could break through them. Intentionally, he had made the cell rather tiny as well, as to not give the hedgehog enough room to build up speed. It measured only around 3 by 3 metres, no more. There were no objects in the cell - no bed, no washstand. The only thing that stood out was a small drain in one corner, though it was much too small to allow any means of escape.

Sonic was unceremoniously dumped on the floor, the door quickly shutting behind him as the robots left him. Raising himself to his hands and knees with a groan, he attempted an angry glare at the doctor, though he was still feeling far too woozy to stand up properly.

"Enjoy your stay, hedgehog! I've business to attend to, but I'll be back soon!"

With an exaggerated flourish, Eggman sketched a bow at his prisoner before leaving him alone. He knew that the hedgehog would be too dizzy to speak with right now anyway - he wanted to gloat with him fully conscious - and indeed he had other matters that needed seeing first. He would be making sure to put aside plenty of time for his new prisoner, however. Cackling as he left, Eggman all but bounced away.

Sonic meanwhile was rubbing his head tersely, noting a faint red stain on his glove when he removed it. Lovely. He had been sore enough as it was, he didn't need a concussion to boot. Fortunately, his mind was already feeling more alert and carefully he stood up, inspecting the cell for any signs of potential weakness. Gradually feeling more like himself again, he felt over every bar, knocked on the walls and inspected every part of the floor and ceiling. No apparent weaknesses. Naturally, he tried a couple of spindashes but were disappointed at the results. He couldn't build up any real momentum and whatever the bars were made of, they were strong. Sighing, he decided that his best course of action for now would be to wait for Eggman to return for his first gloating session. Reluctantly, he sat down in one of the far corners, arms crossed behind his head.

Roughly an hour lately found Eggman returning. He appeared to have dressed for the occasion, freshly showered, his moustache still slightly damp, in new clothes and polished glasses. Sonic had seen him approach but hadn't bothered to get up from his sitting position.

"Well, here we are!" the doctor grinned at him. I know, it's not the first time I have you in my grasp, but as I'm sure you noticed, I've learnt a few tricks when it comes to prison cells… Time for our little introduction talk!"


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: Poor, poor Sonic…

**Chapter 5**

"Oh, by the by, I thought about what you told me be about hedgehogs and rodents before. Thank Chaos for Wikipedia! I must say, it was quite enlightening reading, really. I was thinking that while I have you here as my "guest", I should remedy my previous ignorance and treat you as a hedgehog deserves. So, tell me Sonic, what would you rather have for dinner tonight – grass roots, or some nice fat slugs?"

Eggman had been pacing outside the cell, arms behind his back, eyeing his prisoner with apparent glee. Despite the insult, he _was_ actually somewhat curious to hear the hedgehog's response to his words about his feral ancestors' habits. When he thought about it, he had never really considered what the supersonic hedgehog _did_ eat besides those blasted hot dogs…

Sonic was eyeing Eggman carefully as he spoke, hoping against hope to understand what he was telling him so he could come up with a nice retort. He thought he read the word "slugs" on his lips… that couldn't be right, could it? Why would Eggman be talking about slimy invertebrates? Certainly he must have been talking about shotguns of some kind…

"You know you ain't got anything on me Eggman, I'll take you on whatever weapon you throw after me!"

That… was not the response the doctor had expected. Twirling his moustache, he raised one eyebrow while eyeing the hedgehog before him. There _was_ something different about Sonic, wasn't there? He just couldn't figure out what it was…

"Cat got your tongue?" Sonic teased, the first few traces of a grin on his features. If Eggman was struck dumb, he must have done something right…

"You speak funny, too" Eggman mused, ignoring the hedgehog's remark. Indeed, Sonic was still speaking rather loudly and his words sounded unusually flat where usually they would be heavy with arrogance or sarcasm, at least as long as he was speaking with his nemesis.

Sonic was growing restless standing still in one spot for so long. Turning away from the doctor, he turned his full attention to carefully straightening one of his gloves, giving it his full devotion. Nothing like a theatrical pose to irk the doctor further. He didn't as much as flick an ear when Eggman banged his hand against one of the bars, annoyed with the hedgehog's apparent lack of attention. He was not one to be ignored, dammit! And yet, noticing the hedgehog's odd behavior, Eggman's curiosity grew. He had expected at least a start from the hedgehog from the sound of the hand against the cold metal, knowing Sonic's quick reflexes. Not enough to frighten him, no, but certainly earning that quick, instinctive tensing of muscles that he was well familiar with in his encounters with the blue blur. Sonic's lightning reflexes had proven vital to his survival and were extremely tuned…

"What's the matter with you?!" The doctor queried, now appearing both intrigued and annoyed. Though unable to hear the angry words, Sonic had turned around again and seeing the flustered expression on the human's face, he grinned widely. Whatever he was doing, it seemed to be working as far as riling Eggman up went. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot, knowing his shows of impatience had always annoyed the doctor. Especially while he was gloating.

Eggman on the other hand seemed to be pondering something, brow furrowed and humming to himself. He looked over the defiant hedgehog carefully, taking in every part of his appearance. Muttering something about how he usually would have been met by some stupid retort by now, he took note how the hedgehog had remained unusually quiet throughout their whole exchange, doing little but eyeing him warily most of the time. And when he did reply, his words didn't really fit with the rest of the conversation, did they?

After a moment longer, Eggman appeared to have come to some sort of conclusion. His expression, Sonic noted, looked both surprised and pleased, as if Christmas had just decided to come 6 months early. Intending to test his new theory, he put his hand into a pocket, retrieving a tiny intercom radio of some kind. He whispered something into it, followed by crossing his arms and waiting. Sonic glanced up at his hand, but couldn't even begin to guess what he was ordering into the small gadget. Calling for an attack or something? Retrieving robots to fetch him to take him somewhere else?

"What's the matter, Eggman? Out of insults already?" Sonic teased, having tired of the waiting game long ago. He didn't notice a small hovering robot, some sort of half-finished prototype not looking entirely unlike a somewhat oversized beetle, though still lacking a decorative hull, floating through the hallway. It wasn't a loud robot, but it did emit a constant humming which was clearly audible in the otherwise quiet hall. The beetle-bot was small enough to easily fly through the far end of the barred side of the cell, up against the back of the hedgehog who did not notice it at all as it hovered behind him. At this point, Sonic was convinced Eggman was just standing there to glare at him as some sort of new way of gloating, and instead of giving him any more attention busied himself by leaning down to wipe dust off his sneakers. If the doctor wasn't going to do anything but stand there and look stupid, he could turn his consideration to more important tasks… like maintaining his good looks.

Eggman, on the other hand, widened his eyes at the apparent lack of reaction from the hedgehog. Certainly he should have noticed the humming and whirring of the prototype and destroyed it as soon as it entered the cell. Sonic was usually so alert and unable to keep himself from destroying any of his creations... It appeared his suspicions were correct - only one final test left and he'd be certain. Once more grabbing the remote, he whispered a new command into it, followed by hurriedly taking a couple steps back as extra precaution. Three seconds later, the little half-finished robot exploded a metre or two behind Sonic, who didn't as much as flinch. The robot had been tiny and not especially powerful, going out much like a firecracker. Loud, but not large enough to cause any real damage. Causing no sudden heat or shockwave, Sonic didn't notice anything amiss until he saw the burnt remains of a tiny piece of metal roll past his feet.

"What the...?" He blinked and looked behind him, seeing what little remained of the prototype on the floor. Those burnt bits of metal and plastic hadn't been there before...

He didn't hear it, but he didn't need to either in order to know it was coming as he turned back. Eggman exploding into an evil laughter, slapping his knee empathically.

"Oh, this is rich, this is just fantastic! What's this, a little hard of hearing are we? Growing old? Tell me, how many years are you in hedgehog years? Or..." He stroked his chin carefully, thinking back. "Ah, I think I've got it now... It was the Egg Mantis, wasn't it? My ears were ringing after that horrible screech. But you... You were still standing in it at the time, weren't you? Oh, this is just splendid!"

While Eggman broke into another monologue, Sonic paled visibly, frowning. He could tell by the other's expression - Eggman knew he couldn't hear. And he was already captured. Crap. He huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at the doctor who was, for the sake of annoying the hedgehog and knowing he couldn't bite back, taking the opportunity to throw him every insult he had always wanted to tell the hedgehog, very much enjoying the change of pace where Sonic was no longer able to interrupt him with his own idiotic retorts.

Sonic grew tired of that speech far quicker than the doctor did, wanting to turn his back to him but not daring to do so, since he wouldn't be able to hear if Eggman was aiming a weapon at him or similar. Now that the gig was up, he wasn't sure what to expect next. The doctor in question was still going on and on, Sonic long having lost the interest in even attempting to read his lips, though he thought what looked like 'idiotic' was re-appearing quite often.

Eggman finished his little talk, walking up close to the bars and lowering himself almost to the hedgehog's eye level. Automatically, Sonic walked closer to him as well, a faint growl beginning deep in his throat. Oh, if only he could have gotten his hands through the bars to knock that smile off his face!

"Know this, you deaf little vermin. This changes everything. I'm going to enjoy this. Rest assured. We're going to have so much fun together, how does that _sound_? Oh, who am I asking... You'll just have to wait and _see_, won't you?"

He laughed again, caressing one of the bars in an almost gentle manner before standing up and turning to leave his prisoner.

Sonic had kept eye contact with the doctor, not willing to give him any more satisfaction than he could avoid, even if he was currently at a disadvantage. He didn't understand Eggman's message, but he could see in his eyes that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be pleasant for him. Glaring still as the doctor rose and finally left, he waited for a long time before returning to the corner of the cell, sitting down with a heavy sign. What kind of mess had he gotten himself to now? He had run off while disabled and gotten himself captured almost immediately. Even worse, none of his friends knew where he was or where to begin looking for him. Leaning back against the cool wall, he drew up his knees, crossed his arms over them and rested his head on his arms, eyes closed. It was going to be a long night.

Eggman, unlike his prisoner who was currently pining in his cell, was beyond thrilled. He saw before him simply countless possibilities now. The hedgehog was not going to be a problem anymore – their recent battle had already proven at what a disadvantage he was. No, he could take his time to enjoy toying with him, to show him just what it meant to lose one of your defenses. But what to start with? He tapped the side of the armchair rest, considering his options as he glanced at the screen in front of him, going over various hastily sketched up ideas.

In another part of the base, someone elsewas likewise very much considering the recent turn of events, though from a very different perspective. Several low curses were uttered, an ally was contacted and a decision was made. Now they just had to wait for the right time to strike.

Tails was sitting in the pilot's seat, arms wrapped around him. What to do, what to do…! He had no way of contacting anyone, no one to come to his aid. And more than anything, he had no time. He had to make a decision, fast. Either he could try to follow Eggman, or he could try to cross the vast jungle and find help somewhere and go from there. With the Tornado out of commission, he couldn't move nearly as fast as before. Well, he could never compete with Sonic's speed anyway, but he could fly pretty fast for short distances. Perhaps he could cross the jungle until he reached civilization again. The closest town could be miles away though, in any direction. It could take him days to reach someone. But following Eggman? He had no way to reach him, either. He didn't even know where he was, even if he was probably closer. And no matter which road he went down, he would have to leave his precious plane behind, waiting to be stolen or taken apart by anyone passing by.

Sighing miserably, Tails whispered fiercely to the air around him.

"Sonic, you idiot!"

The hours had taken their toll. The battle, together with the pent up nervousness and adrenaline following the hours of waiting, culminating with his unfortunate meeting with the doctor, had taken their toll. Sonic was just going to close his eyes for a second… which soon led to full blown, heavy sleep. Under normal circumstances, he would have done little but doze lightly in similar settings, but his imperfect senses combined with his exhaustion fooled his body into a deeper rest. When Eggman approached him again, this time flanked by two robust robots of vague humanoid build (sporting the classic Eggman-like characteristics, round-bellied and mustached), he was laying partially curled up into a ball, snoring lightly, quills drooped and ears lazily draped back along his skull, for all intents and purposes looking not entirely unlike a content sleeping feral puppy.

"Cute" the doctor sneered, though he also had to admit he was somewhat amused at the sight. He'd never seen his enemy asleep before – the hedgehog would never let his guard drop that low. He actually looked quite innocent when he wasn't blazing around at astronomical speeds and taunting you every step of the way. Rolling his eyes at the sapient before him, Eggman decided to wake his prisoner up so they could get started. He had a long list of activities planned, not to mention a tight schedule even without taking the hedgehog into account. Taking over the world required its time and planning.

Giving the hedgehog a few more seconds to make sure he wasn't bluffing, Eggman finally pressed the button on his remote to open the cell door. The sturdy robots – heavy duty repair bots, actually, usually working within the deep bellows of his crafts – had been hurriedly modified, now equipped with quite a few new tricks that he hoped would keep the hedgehog well "entertained" during their upcoming time to together. He very much looked forward to this – his only regret that he wouldn't be able to taunt the hedgehog all the while.

As the door opened, Sonic didn't as much as flinch, oblivious to all going on around him. That is, until he was roughly shaken awake by harshly being grabbed and lifted by the scruff of his neck. His eyes widened in instinctive panic and he fought viciously to get away. The scruff hold had been a good choice of grip, though – no matter how he twisted and turned, Sonic remained fixated in place. He kicked and punched, unfortunately not able to hurt anything but the air around him.

"Wakey wakey!" the doctor taunted, grinning at his prisoner. Still groggily coming awake, Sonic instinctively began to roll up, intending to spindash away, when he felt the other robot roughly grab his arms behind his back, handcuffing him, his hands held tightly together without any slack. Sonic would not be able to spindash away without risking serious injury to his arms now, leaving him immobile. The robot continued with his kicking legs, applying cuffs and chains. He could move his legs enough to walk, barely, but running was out of the question. The chains clinked noisily as Sonic still continued to kick as well as he could, never one to give up. As a final retort in this unfortunate situation, his mind raced for other means of fighting back. Settling on firing up a nice long string of imaginative curses and insults – in his mind at least marginally better than going quietly – Sonic tensed up once more when he felt the robot rush to apply the final restraint – a tight blindfold, tied so snugly around his skull that it hurt. With a gasp, Sonic froze. Now blind as well as deaf, he stopped fighting, uncertain what to expect or do. How did this all happen so quickly? Curse his lack of hearing, curse his slow reflexes! What did Eggman intend to do with him anyway? He felt disgusted with himself for not realizing when he was being approached, for not reacting quicker. He had never considered before how much his senses worked together to help him understand and react to the world around him. With one sense gone, it was if all the others had been dimmed too. He felt more vulnerable than he had in a long time.

"Let's take a little stroll, shall we? Oh, of course, you don't know where you're going, do you?" Eggman purred, motioning to his robots, now flanking Sonic on each side as he had been unceremoniously dropped to the floor. He took immense pleasure in seeing the hedgehog remain in place, not even trying to run off. This was going to be even easier than he thought.

"You can't see, you can't hear, isn't that just unfortunate? How are we going to reach our destination like this? Better make sure your other senses are still in order, don't you agree. Bots – why won't you do the honours?" At this point, he didn't care that the hedgehog couldn't hear him. He was going to have his fun either way.

Suddenly the hallway was filled with a surprised pained scream as Sonic received two strong electric shocks, one from each robot on his respective sides. Not having been able to see them coming, Sonic was completely unprepared and at their mercy. Eggman leered at him.

"Eggman!" the hedgehog roared as the shocks stopped, furiously lashing out as well as he could, shoulders squared, hoping he'd hit_ something_ at least, though he had no way of telling where the doctor was standing. No such luck as the robots simply shocked him again. And again. And finally, a last time for good measure.

Several moments later, Eggman smiled pleasantly as the hedgehog had stopped fighting, on one knee and panting. Wasn't he trembling just slightly, too?

Sonic shook his head meekly, trying to clear his mind, before tensing up again as he felt the jab of one of the bot's tasers against his left shoulder. Not shocking him, but… urging him on? It pressed painfully into his tingling skin. Wishing to simply lash out again but deciding he'd had enough of shocks for now, Sonic rose carefully, slowly walking in the direction he was roughly being pushed. Twice he received shocks for not complying fast enough, but at least they were moving ahead.

Heatedly, Sonic decided that this game of struggle – shock – repeat was getting old fast. He decided to obey, but only until they had reached wherever they were going. Hopefully a new chance for escape would show itself soon. He doubted Eggman would keep him blindfolded forever, he'd want to gloat to his face sooner or later… patience, hedgehog, he reminded himself. Wait and see what opportunities present themselves. He continued walking forward, uncharacteristically quiet, nerves a-jingle as he tried to be ready for anything but having no way to foresee anything going on around him, restricted to touch and smell to orientate himself. For the normally so alert hedgehog, this by itself was veritable torture.

"Clearly, your sense of touch is still working. How lucky for you!" the doctor smirked at him, clasping his hands together as he watched the clearly shaken hedgehog slowly stagger his way forward. He got no reply, not that he had expected one – he knew the hedgehog couldn't hear him, but he simply couldn't resist the opportunity to revel in this. It brought him great joy to see the former speedster carefully stumbling along, herded like mindless cattle through the hallways. He was bringing the hedgehog to his control room, confident that Sonic couldn't do anything there anyway. He wanted to enjoy this in full, perched in his luxurious seat. Perhaps even with a snack in hand as he watched his opponent struggling on the floor…

Upon finally reaching their destination, Eggman motioned to the robots that stopped pushing the hedgehog along. Standing proud as to not give the mad doctor any satisfaction, but very much terrified inside, Sonic huffed through his nose and turned his head from side to side, trying to see through the blindfold or pick up any sounds. Nothing. Damn. Eggman turned to him as he sat down in his chair, a most pleased expression on his face.

"Well then, let the games begin!"


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note: A big THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed, I really, really appreciate it! The tips for improving my writing style are especially helpful. Writing in "fanfiction format" is still very much new to me and I know I have a lot to learn.

I'm currently pretty cranky and annoyed as the result of being on a pre-surgery 3 week liquid diet, which means I'm very hungry and suddenly have a lot of extra time since I'm not cooking, eating or cleaning the dishes. And need to distract myself from thinking about food. So, hey, maybe we can get some quickish updates to this...

As a final little note, I got a cover image, woo! Going by my covers for my stories, one might think I' a huge Sonic X fan... I'm not, but the series is great when you're too lazy to get a proper cover XD I did draw the one of Sonic covered in tar, though… But he's so hard to draw :[

On with the story!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

What was that? Sonic strained to focus. It was not easy. For a moment, he thought that he had heard a faint noise, not unlike the sound of a wave hitting the beach. He tried to listen harder. Nothing. His mind must be playing tricks on him. Subconscious wanting his hearing to be back just too much. He sighed and shifted his weight slightly. He was kneeling, still blindfolded and still cuffed. His arms sported various small but painful cuts where he had accidentally scraped his bound hands against his quills. His feet were aching and his head pounding. A host of lesser pains were making themselves known on most of his body. Worst of all though were his frayed nerves. He didn't know where he was or if he was alone. Or if Eggman was still here.

From time to time he had been able to feel slight tremors through the ground when someone - Eggman or his robots, he usually couldn't tell which - passed near him. Not rarely kicking him out of the way as they marched by him. He could faintly smell blood and metal, sometimes Eggman's distinguished odour if he stood near him, but that was about as much as he could tell about his surroundings. He didn't know where he had originally been led and he didn't know if he was still there or if they had moved elsewhere. He had tried to appear confident and unafraid, but he suspected he had called out in pain several times in the last couple of hours as he was hit. Not to mention falling over when he had lost his balance, never knowing when or from where to expect the next attack and being unable to fight back. That injured pride hurt him more than the cuts or bruises. He felt very, very vulnerable, and he hated the feeling. On top of that, he was utterly exhausted from the mental torture as well as the physical pain and lack of nourishment and proper rest.

Eggman's "games" had lasted the better part of two hours. During that time, he had had Sonic shocked, kicked and beaten. He'd have his bots herd him around aimlessly in the room, just to confuse and infuriate him. He had taken great pleasure from seeing his nemesis reduced to little more than a vegetable, unable to communicate with the outside world… though his sense of touch, and thus his ability to feel pain, was unfortunately still quite intact. For the moment being, Eggman had decided to take a break to give the hedgehog time to build up some more energy. Couldn't continue the fun with the hedgehog out cold, could he? He was already looking worse for wear.

He eyed Sonic kneeling on the floor. He looked pitiful, shivering slightly and still bleeding from a cut on his cheek, the result of a particular hard dive to the floor following a well-aimed kick from earlier. Eggman had contemplated removing the blindfold so he could attempt to communicate with him for just a bit. To really rub into his face just how helpless he was. But he was enjoying seeing him so uncertain and letting him see his surroundings would help him feel more confident again. No, it could stay on a bit longer. Still, he would need to ensure that his prisoner was ready to remain standing a while longer yet or the fun would be over too quickly.

Sonic gasped as he felt his chin roughly grabbed, struggling as well as he could before feeling something against his lips. A bowl or glass of some kind? He felt the water against his dry lips and hesitated. It could be poison, or a drug. It could make him ill or worse... He was awfully thirsty, though, he had to admit. Still, he refused to co-operate, out of suspicion as well as old habit of simply going against the doctor's wishes whatever they were.

Feeling the grip lessen, then disappearing completely and the bowl moving away, he re-considered his options. Eggman was apparently giving him the choice to drink, or not. This suggested he didn't care whether he drank it... So hopefully, it was just regular water? Sonic leaned forward, trying his best to find the bowl again and getting some water down his throat. Eggman had been kind enough to hold the bowl still when he felt the hedgehog reach for it. Let the hedgehog drink from his hand like a submissive pet. He grinned at the thought.

Sonic relaxed somewhat as he felt the cold liquid go down into his stomach. He really had needed that, as much as he hated the thought of taking anything from his nemesis. Still, he felt slightly rejuvenated and even attempted to stand up straight again.

Eggman let the hedgehog rise. He was more fun when he was fighting back anyway. The last few minutes had gotten rather boring, when the hedgehog had chosen to simply remain kneeling and refusing to move no matter what he did, a stubborn expression on his face and ears flat against his skull in controlled anger. Now he could continue… if not for the fact that, unfortunately he had other things waiting for him that required his attention.

It had been hard enough to put aside as much time to the hedgehog as he already had. He'd already taken several short breaks to command robots away to other parts of the base. There had been some… snags. Security breaches. Nothing major, probably just more lost jungle animals that had somehow found their way in. He hoped. Eggman eyed the blinking screen before him as the most recent alarm rose in pitch and urgency, a frown on his face. He had to go before things got out of control. Not bothering to even take Sonic back to his cell again, he simply left the hedgehog where he was. Sonic couldn't run, he couldn't spindash. Hell, he didn't even know where he was and even if by some stroke of luck he found the controls, he most certainly wouldn't know the password, never mind be able to type it in with his hands tied behind his back. No, Eggman was fully safe. He didn't even bother to leave the bots with him, expecting the hedgehog to remain as docile as he had been in the last half an hour.

"See you later, pest" he waved as he moved away. He didn't expect a reply and he didn't get one.

* * *

Was he alone? Sonic had waited what felt like an eternity. He hadn't felt the tremors of a presence around him for some time now - no kicks, tasings or other unjust attacks, either. He carefully took a step forward. Nothing happened. He took another and waited again. Still nothing. Eggman must have left him alone. Finally. Had he left any bots to guard him, though?

"Hello?" he called out, instantly inwardly rolling his eyes at himself afterwards. How would he know if someone replied to him anyway? No, he'd have to do this by touch alone. Most important though, he had to get the blindfold off before he could take further action. Maybe Eggman had left the keys to the shackles in the room, just to spite him. He had to get his bearings and find out where he was.

He walked carefully, awkwardly. Without the use of his hands, eyes or ears, he resorted to using his feet to tell what was before him. It was slow progress. Finally, he felt a wall in front of him. Okay. He turned around and silently counted the steps as he made his way over to the opposite wall, measuring the size of the room. It was a fairly large room and apparently mostly empty. Two walls left. He very barely avoided tripping over some piece of furniture or other going towards the third wall - Eggman's oversized chair actually, though he couldn't know that - but finally struck gold at the last wall. A control board. It had to be. Turning around so he could use his fingers, he gingerly felt along an edge of some sort, perhaps a table or ledge. The room was built for human standards and his arms couldn't reach high enough in their shackled state, but he was confident this must be the control room going by those instruments he could just barely reach. He briefly considered attempting to jump up and smash as many buttons as possible, but decided against it. One of those buttons might fire off those missiles Eggman been talking about and he couldn't risk that. It was still very tempting, though.

Sonic thought hard. How to get the blindfold off? He'd already tried to rub it against his spines, but it was too snugly fitted around his skull. Eggman had known what he was doing. Instead, he walked along the ledge of the massive control board until he reached the end of it. A door? He pushed against it. It appeared to be locked. He kept stalking along the wall. At least there didn't appear to be any robots in here, or surely they'd attacked him by now for sneaking about.

Almost about to give up and simply plop down somewhere try to get some rest before the doctor returned, Sonic cursed as he tripped and fell over something near the fourth wall. Whatever it was, it had a sharp end and he felt blood slowly trickling down his leg as he laid on the floor, blinking into the blindfold in surprise. He lashed out at the object in fury, a faint kick all his legs could offer while chained up. Then he got an idea. He got back onto his knees and sniffed the air carefully. Metal. It was a metal object. Which he had now kicked Chaos knew where. At least it shouldn't have been able to travel far since he'd not been able to kick hard with his legs tied.

Sonic had rarely used his sense of smell that much. As a matter of fact, hedgehogs did have pretty good noses, something they had retained from their foraging ancestors, but he was far more used to using his eyes and ears to get information about the world. As a result, Sonic's ability to sniff and smell to find something was rather underdeveloped, but the ability was there, if he could learn to use it.

Awkwardly, he snuffed the air and twisted his head, trying to pinpoint the object he had tripped over. It had felt like something that was long and straight when it connected with his leg. It must be near.

Carefully, he moved to the right of his current position. It hadn't travelled far and it took him less than a minute to find the object again, but almost as long just to lift it up. He had to lie down on his side to grab it with his hands. A pole? It was long, fairly light, definitely metal and cold to the touch. It was roughly as thick as his wrist and he clumsily sat up again, still holding on to it. Okay. Step one done. Time for step two. He grabbed a firm hold, holding onto the object with both hands behind him, aiming it straight up.

It took him several minutes, plenty of cursing and several winces as he missed the mark more than once, hitting himself in the process, but it was all worth it when the blindfold loosened enough to fall down from his face to drape around his neck like a scarf. Sonic had attempted to lodge the object – a small leftover pipe, he found out when he could see again – under the blindfold. It had been very painful at first to dig under it, but after many attempts it had loosened enough to make the task easier. Eventually, the tied piece of fabric had simply fallen off his face to dangle around his thin neck.

Sighing in relief, he blinked his eyes wearily. They hurt from being behind that fold for so long and it took a while before he could take in his surroundings again. At first, painfully bright lights fluttered around his face before growing into familiar shapes again. He could see! Suddenly, Sonic felt so much more confident, so much freer. This was almost like a regular capture, now. He mentally shook his head at himself. Regular capture, huh? Said something about the type of life he led.

Standing up again, still holding onto the pipe – just in case – he moved back to the control board. There were simply too many buttons, switches and levers. He had no idea what they might do if he pressed them. With Eggman's threat fresh in mind, he didn't dare attack the console. He needed Tails for something like this.

Speaking of, he hoped the fox was all right. He hadn't seemed too badly hurt when Sonic was taken, but he couldn't be sure. Chances were the fox would come straight after them, as stupid and dangerous as that would be. As dangerous as running off to fight with your enemy while deaf and exhausted? Sonic didn't want to think too hard on that one.

Instead, he glanced over the controls once more before his eyes brightened. Of course! He looked around before his eyes found a small microphone. Surely Eggman had some ways of communicating with others built into this thing? The pipe was dropped onto the floor with a clank, rolling away a little bit before coming to a rest near the board. Sonic was too busy looking over the controls to pay it any attention.

Unfortunately, as he busily searched for something like a radio or intercom, Sonic did not notice someone behind him until the last moment, when he felt the slight, almost non-existent tremor in the floor. Someone was coming. Twisting around instinctively, he barely avoided the doctor's mad grab for his neck.

"How did you…!" Eggman cursed at him before sending the two bots flanking him to attack the hedgehog.

Still unable to move freely, Sonic backed away slowly, bristling. Ready to battle, he felt a dull roar go through his head - adrenaline pumping through his system and getting him ready to fight. He was cornered, still unable to move freely and he was still quite fatigued. Still, he wouldn't go down without a fight and growled darkly as he eyed his opponent. He was not going to miss this chance of getting out of here...

* * *

Elsewhere, a young fox was currently trying his best to get his bearings, as well. Fortunately, he had filled his bright young mind with all the knowledge he had come across during his adventures, and carefully observed the moss-covered trees before him.

"Let's see... North is that way, then..."

With a slight nod to himself, he took off again. He was tired, muddy and worried to his very core, but he knew he must not give up. Every minute counted and who knew what Sonic was going through right now?

Determination on his face, Tails twirled his tails and took the air.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: Once more, thanks again for all the kind words!  
RAWN89 – Afraid I don't have a DevArt account related to my Sonic art – I actually draw him very rarely because I just can't get him like I want. Very stupid reason, I know – obviously I SHOULD be drawing him often so I learn instead…

On with the story! We're slowly going towards the conclusion but there are a few chapters left...

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Seriously, this was beyond humiliating! Sonic shifted restlessly. He was back, sitting in that Chaos forsaken cell. Still shackled. A fresh blindfold applied. This one had been applied with even more force and as a result he now had a headache to boot from the fabric pinching painfully around his skull.

The fight had been pitiful at best. The robots hadn't needed much time to overpower the tired hedgehog, his still bound hands and feet rendering him unable to really fight. He had been unceremoniously thrown back into his cell not long after that, probably accompanied by another speech from the doctor, as well as sporting a fresh set of bruises. At this point, he was just as glad that he couldn't hear what Eggman had to say about him anyway – doubtless something about how helpless he currently was and how he had no hopes of escaping any time soon.

He tried to move into a more comfortable position, though without much success. His arms ached for being held in the same position for so long, as did most of his other body parts. Various cuts and bruises made themselves known whenever he moved. His head was pounding and his useless ears were still horribly sore. He was, uncharacteristically, starting to feel just a little bit sorry for himself, though it was still tainted with quite a bit of righteous anger. Damn that Eggman!

Suddenly, he tensed up, ears perked forward out of habit more than anything. Someone was near, he was sure of it. He had felt someone moving closer to him through the slightest of vibrations in the floor. Time to fight again, hedgehog. As well as you can, anyway. He lowered his head, bristling his spines and snuffing the air for any clues as to who was about to attack him next. Come closer, whoever you are, come up to me and I'll show you I've still got some fight left in me… Hopefully, he could at least get one shove in before he was beaten back.

But then, he froze with realization as the person came closer still. He recognized that smell, that special perfume, accented with a light waft of black leather.

"Rouge…" he whispered.

"That's right, Blue Boy" a deep feminine voice replied in an almost as low murmur, though she knew he couldn't hear her. Gingerly placing a gloved hand on his shoulder, it pained her to see the normally so confident hedgehog jump with the unexpected touch. She hadn't seen all he'd been put through today, but she'd seen enough. She would have intervened earlier if that would not have blown her cover completely, rendering the last week's work completely useless. No, as much as it had frustrated her, she'd had to wait until he was left alone again. Though in her defense, she had stayed nearby, ready to kick into action in case Eggman had decided to start to threaten Sonic's life in earnest. She had, correctly, assumed that he would spend a long time toying with him before he started to truly injure him. Besides, it was her distraction that had made the doctor finally leave. Without her, Sonic's stay surely would have been even more miserable.

Suddenly feeling immense relief, Sonic held still as the bat removed his blindfold. He blinked at her, a beaming smile already on his lips when he set his eyes on the white bat in front of him. She struck a pose in response to his oogling, hand on hip and flapping her wings once or twice.

"Hey there" she smiled at him as she helped him to his feet. "Fancy meeting you of all people down here. Gotten the sightseeing tour, I see. Or_ a_ tour, anyway."

Sonic, not sure what he was expected to reply, simply continued to smile dumbly, before nodding towards his hands behind his back.

"Got anything for these?"

"You know it, honey" Rouge replied with a wink, retrieving a small key from one of her pockets. Sonic obediently held still as his wrists were released, sighing in relief when he could move his hands again. His shoulders screamed from stiffness, the result of them being in the same position for hours, but it was very welcome all the same. Another key for his legs, and the hedgehog couldn't resist an excited whoop as he tentatively jogged around the cell, as well as he could in the small space and still very much low on energy.

"I owe ya one, Rouge!" he shouted happily. Rouge grinned at him. Sonic's moods always seemed to be so infectious. Perhaps not so strange, considering how pure and unrestricted they always were.

"I'd ask you how you found me, but… I… I can't…" he said regretfully, coming to a stop in the cell again, eyes on the wall rather than on Rouge.

"I know honey, Eggman's proclaimed it all over his base". Her smile faded and she looked concerned. Belonging to a species with legendary hearing abilities, she pitied the blue hero doubly. And they'd already seen how much of a hindrance this was turning out to be. She still hadn't found out how exactly he'd managed to ruin his ears in the first place, though. She'd have to ask him later, when they had more time.

Sonic on his part was wondering how much Rouge _did _know, anyway. He had no idea how long she'd been watching him. He could tell by her expression that she knew about his… problem. He was feeling more and more embarrassed about it. He tried to put his thoughts elsewhere. How had she known to look for him here, anyway? Perhaps Tails had gotten hold of her? Yeah, that had to be it.

Sonic sorely wished he'd been able to ask Rouge all of his questions, but it would have to wait. They had to get out first. He said as much to his rescuer, trying to keep his voice low but uncertain at what volume he was speaking. The bat nodded to his words.

"Let's go" she motioned to him, and he obediently followed. Rouge preferred to move through the air, giving her a greater vantage point as the hedgehog jogged below. His frayed nerves felt as if they were curling back onto themselves, constantly turning his head to look in every direction for potential threats. Still, he felt a bit better with Rouge around. He knew bats heard exceptionally well and he simply had to trust that she'd hear anyone approaching while he kept his eyes open (and nose) open.

Rouge took him down several winding corridors, often stopping to check and listen before crossing into a room, eyes looking for movement or blinking lights. She seemed to be familiar with the layout of the base, the hedgehog noted. Just how long had she been here, anyway? And where was Eggman now?

His thoughts were interrupted as she opened the next door and they entered a great underground tunnel. It was faintly lit by sparse lamps above, though they did little but light the area directly underneath them. The tunnel was almost fully dark, dank and smelling strongly of earth and mud. It was large, though, and paved. Clearly, this was how Eggman had been moving all his required materials to his base, rather than going through dense jungle. It must lead to a way out somewhere. He'd have no problems running here, either. Freedom, here I come!

"I'm dropping you off here, sweetie. Keep running and you'll find the exit. It should be almost empty at this time… Eggman's attention is… elsewhere, right now. Be careful and you should be fine".

Sonic desperately tried to read her lips, though unfortunately his skill at doing so was still feeble at best. He understood her gestures, though. She was pointing into the tunnel and nodding at him.

At this point, Sonic was torn between simply wanting to run off as fast as he could, and his sense of duty which had begun to pick up again now that he was out of immediate harm's way. He was basically fleeing with his tails between his legs – he hadn't even trashed the doctor's controls! And Eggman could still fire those missiles whenever he wanted, couldn't he?

He couldn't leave, he just couldn't… Not when he was so close.

He had already taken a couple of steps before his thoughts had caught up with him. Brow furrowed, he looked at the bat who in return looked incredulous. She could sense the inner battle in his mind and she wasn't that surprised, knowing the hedgehog. Somewhat annoyed at him, yes – he was making things a lot more complicated than they had to be right now – but she had expected as much from him, sooner or later. She knew who she was dealing with, after all.

"Sonic…" she began, and took a breath. Hopefully he'd get the gist of her message. "I know you want to help, but you're in no state to fight. This is no time to play the hero… You're… wounded, you'd just get yourself into trouble again. Leave this to me and Shadow."

"Shadow?" Sonic asked cautiously, and the bat couldn't resist a smile. He understood by the look on her face that she was urging him to leave and he'd recognized that word, at least.

"He's giving Eggman a run for his money in the other far end of the base. If your ears weren't out of commission, you'd heard the alarms and explosions as we moved down here. That you didn't even notice that is further proof you need to get out of here. Get that fox friend of yours to take you to the hospital before you make this permanent. If it's not already." She'd go on, but remembered she was talking to deaf ears. Literally. No point in wasting her breath any further…

Instead, a light push against a peach shoulder to get him going. Sonic bit his lip. Go or stay. Go or stay... What could he do if he stayed? What would happen if he left?

Rouge rolled her eyes at his indecision.

"I don't know why I'm wasting my time on you anyway. Chaos knows even if you _could_ hear my words, your standard response to being asked to do something is always doing the opposite, anyway. Go now!"

"Rouge... I can't..." He had a good idea on what she was trying to say (expression plain on her face, if nothing else) but his mind was already all but made up.

Sonic locked eyes with the bat as she grabbed his arm. The hold was as much to keep him from running away from her as to reassure him, to make him listen to her. She shook her head and tightened her grip further.

What was that? Sonic flicked an ear. For a moment, he thought he'd heard a low rumble fly through his skull. It was gone as quick as it came, but he was fairly certain... Or was he imagining things again? Maybe it was just wishful thinking… trying to find an excuse to stay…

"Rouge, I think I heard something!" he said, weighing his words carefully.

An eyebrow, heavy with make up, rose slowly.

"Nice try, but I'm not falling for that. Last chance now. You can get out the easy way, or the hard way". She shifted her weight, readying herself. Perhaps she could push him out and close the door before he'd known what's happened. Failing that, a swift kick to his temple might work, just as long as he didn't see it come she should be able to get at least one hit in… just enough to daze him so she could throw him out, of course. Chaos knew why she even bothered to help someone so stubborn. It wasn't like it would be reflected in her paycheck, so why should she even try? Let the idiot run and get himself killed if that's what he wanted. She sighed and eyed the contraption on her wrist. A small light was blinking angrily. Shadow was running out of time. She had to get back to her spot, now, before Eggman came back, or her cover would be blown and this would all be over.

Sonic scoffed at her unimpressed face. He watched Rouge say something into her wrist and suspected she was communicating with Shadow through the little bracelet. Leaning forward to get a closer peek until she stopped him with a glare, she closed the door again.

"You're seven types of an idiot, do you know that? Fine, do it your way. But I swear, if you blow my cover, I will personally rip out every spine on your back and feed them to you."

Watching her flushed state, Sonic grinned ear to ear as they took off again, now going back into the base again. Time to get even with the mad scientist!


	8. Chapter 8

Author's note: I like toast.

Besides talking about bread… lots of jumping between characters in this chapter – hopefully things won't get too muddled for you readers! What can I say, it's time to check what the different characters are doing…

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Rouge shifted her position, careful to not make any sound. She had done this plenty of times before and was well accustomed to remaining in place, not moving a muscle as she waited. Hanging at some odd angle or other was nothing new to her and, true to her species, she could attach herself to almost any surface. Every part of her attire was chosen for this demanding job – her tight-fitting clothes didn't make even the faintest sound as she moved a slender leg ever so slightly, shifting her weight to relieve a cramping muscle. The tight leather pants weren't _just _for showing off her curves. That they did was just a fortunate bonus.

Silently and patiently waiting was more than could be said for the hedgehog accompanying her, though. Sighing in frustration, Rouge glared at Sonic as he tried to not wriggle in his own hiding spot not far from her – she was hanging upside down above him, attached to the ceiling itself, well hidden in the shadows, while he was half-laying, half-sitting in one of the air ducts. He smiled sheepishly at her as she bared a glistening fang at him. No words were necessary, and none were exchanged. He knew he had already tested her patience – and then some - today, and he was trying to avoid making her even more pissed at him. Rouge may have been one hell of a spy, but she preferred to work alone during missions like these. And if any hedgehogs were to accompany her, she very much preferred the company of Mr. Dark and Foreboding, not Impatience Personified. At least Shadow could remain in one place for more than ten minutes…

Sonic didn't know what the plan was, exactly. The bat has basically led him here and told him hide in one of the air ducts and left it at that, while she'd busied herself with the gadget on her wrist to keep herself up to date on what was going on in the base. Villains never learned, apparently, so they'd been able to remain undetected for at least an hour now in the shallow vents. Staying undetected for so long in one Eggman's bases must have been some sort of personal record for Sonic. So far he had, by his own standards, done a spectacular job at remaining still and quiet, though the bat clearly wasn't impressed with his progress.

Part of Rouge's annoyance came from the simple fact that she hadn't taken this into account when planning the little rescue attempt. Already, her cover was so close to being blown – Eggman knew that Shadow was here now, and they had to work fast to take care of things. He would almost certainly try to bring his plan into action now, before he was overpowered by the black hedgehog. She hadn't had time to find out whether missiles were ready to be fired or not, or even if the mad scientist truly did intend to fire them off at all… or if it was just supposed to be a threat, did the governments not bend to his will. She wouldn't put it past him, given his history of crazy schemes.

Everything was working against the spy today, it seemed, and she suspected it would all blow up in their faces before the end of the day – one way or another. She wasn't looking forward to it, to put it mildly.

Closing her eyes for a second, considering their options and coming to a decision, Rouge rose a gloved hand to call into the bracelet.

"Shadow, you there?"

* * *

Elsewhere, though actually not that far away, an exhausted fox was busy considering _his_ options. After trekking through the woods, Tails had paused outside the base. He almost couldn't believe his luck. He had found the base on his own, without the use of his plane or any of his gadgets, instead working off instinct and wit alone. He had alternated between running and flying, going in the general direction of their last encounter with Eggman and hoping for the best. Adrenaline and worry for his friend had kept him going long past where he'd normally require a break. He knew every second counted and he simply had to try to find his brother before it was too late.

To his surprise, towards the end of his journey Tails had heard the noise of far-off explosions and alarms, urging him in the right direction. Had Sonic wrecked the base? He had felt hope surge in his chest again – his hero brother must be near!

His surprise at seeing not a blue hedgehog, but instead his dark rival, had been unmistakable once he reached the source of the commotion. He'd had the wits to remain hidden (he hoped), wanting to approach the dark-furred one before him but being unable as long as Shadow was busy battling various bots and automatic intruder-sensitive weapons surrounding the base.

Then again, to be honest, he always felt uneasy talking to Shadow even under normal circumstances… Tails wasn't sure he'd ever be able to talk to the dark hedgehog without getting tongue-tied. While Sonic seemed to consider Shadow as harmful as a frightened kitten and would happily engage him in all sorts of silly games, not to mention taunt him endlessly until they got into fights, Tails felt a lot of respect – and even a little bit of fear – towards the rather evil-looking hedgehog. Those death glares he threw left and right as he blasted his Chaos Spears at the robots didn't help, either.

After his initial surprise at seeing Shadow instead of Sonic, Tails had considered if perhaps Sonic had found Shadow and asked him to help him while he was working on things elsewhere. He knew that for all their fighting and bickering, the blue hedgehog enjoyed the black one's company and that they were a force to be reckoned with when fighting together, even if they usually seemed to fight against each other rather than as one… Nor did he think Sonic would ask Shadow to take part in any battle he wouldn't be participating in himself, either. There was no sign of the blue one at all.

He had watched Shadow wreak havoc left and right, robots flying and electronics sizzling around him. After what had seemed like an eternity, reinforcements had stopped arriving and Shadow had gradually moved in closer towards the opening of the base itself.

A few times he'd thought he'd heard Eggman's voice calling out, but he couldn't be certain over the cacophony. Surely the doctor must be close, at any rate…

But where was Sonic?!

Slowly, it had dawned on Tails that Sonic wasn't part of the action after all. Worriedly, he had considered where the hedgehog might be. Had he missed the base, still trudging through the rainforest? That seemed very unlikely. He'd had plenty of time to find it. Had he fled, realizing his disadvantage? That wouldn't be like him at all. That left only one option, that Sonic was captured and held hostage… or worse. He didn't want to think about it, but forced himself to consider it. Was that why Shadow was attacking the base with such apparent rage… was Sonic… indisposed?

As the battle gradually died down, Tails almost called out to Shadow, but before he had the chance the hedgehog had already run into the base. Tails almost ran after him, but knew robots would probably continue to swarm to that place any second now. Eggman was bound to have plenty of reinforcements just waiting to join in and it would be a stupid risk to get into the middle of it.

Instead of going towards the main entrance, the young fox twirled his tails together and hovered up towards a window a few stories up. He glanced inside it, looking for any signs of trouble. It looked empty enough. A storage room of some sort? After spending a few moments ripping a part of a pipe off the wall, he braced himself. Here goes.

With a crash, the window broke and the fox carefully climbed inside. Time to find his brother.

* * *

Worth a shot. Maybe they'd get lucky.

"Sonic?"

No real reaction, though an ear did flick for a moment. She felt hope surge, then leave again as a gloved finger rose to scratch inside the blue appendage. Just an itch. Still nothing, then. Even so, Sonic seemed to notice that he was being watched and turned his eyes up, his expression quizzical.

"What?" he inquired softly. His tone seemed more even, less high-strung than previously. Perhaps it was the fatigue coming back to haunt him.

"Nothing" she smiled sweetly, though there was just a hint of fang in it. She still hadn't entirely forgiven him for interrupting her plans earlier. She turned her eyes again and he sighed, assuming he'd done something wrong… again. Rolling his eyes, Sonic turned his attention elsewhere again.

Both of them had watched Eggman walk past below them moments before, just barely visible through the cracks of glistening metal in the ceiling. He had, to be put it lightly, been in a bad mood. Clearly he'd realized that the blue hedgehog was missing, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out how he'd disappeared. He'd even considered if one of his pre-programmed robots and found him and… disposed of him. A careful search of his databases brought up nothing suspicious, though. Where he was now, Eggman had no idea, though he assumed he'd left the base to run back to his furry little friends. If he'd remained, there'd be no way he'd been able to remain hidden – he didn't have that kind of patience.

Either way, Sonic wasn't his main concern right now. Damn that Shadow! Showing up at the worst possible time, too! Eggman had cursed and ranted as the black hedgehog took out almost all his defenses. And now Sonic was missing on top of that. Things suddenly looked a lot worse than before and he wasn't sure what action to take next. If the black hedgehog knew where he was, he could bring back-up any time he wanted. GUN could be on his tail within hours, at which point he'd be at risk even if the missiles were sent off – he had no good back-up hideout ready for this. There simply hadn't been time yet, seeing how he hadn't planned to announce his plans just yet… That idiotic blue hedgehog! This was his fault somehow, he was certain of it.

Cursing his bad luck, the doctor hurried back to the control room. Time to salvage what he could. He just may have to give up his grand plan for now, knowing there was no time left to put it into action, but he knew there was one place that he could get his revenge on before he fled – the place responsible for bringing his hated opponent to Adabat in the first place. How fortunate that it was currently full of the scientific masterminds of the worlds. Nothing like a little revenge to brighten your day. And taking out the scientific competition of Mobius at the same time would be a sweet bonus indeed. That'll teach them to leave him out of their community!

* * *

Shadow stopped behind the edge of a hallway, listening and looking for any signs of trouble. Confident that he was alone, he cautiously walked past the short row of prison cells, his destination clear. He threw a quick glimpse at the last cell as he passed it, the barred door still open. A quick look inside showed chains and cuffs on the floor along with a piece of black cloth. Dried blood littered the floor as well. Not a large amount, more a sparse scattering of drops here and there, but still. He could imagine the stay hadn't been pleasant. Not that he had much pity to spare his blue counterpart. As far as Shadow was concerned, Sonic could blame himself for allowing himself to get captured.

Shadow was a little curious to see the blue hedgehog in his current state, though. Rouge had put him up to date as well as she'd managed during their mission. He knew that Sonic had been… damaged, in one of his last encounters and Shadow had to admit he was a little curious to see how well he was dealing with it. A small part of him was slightly worried about the prospect of the hedgehog no longer being able to partake in the fight against the mad doctor, too. While Shadow could handle things himself thank you very much, it had been good to know that the hedgehog was doing his part to keep Eggman occupied as well. If nothing else, it had meant a smaller workload for Shadow and Rouge. He'd been quite annoyed to be dragged out to this Chaos forsaken jungle in the first place. On top of that, he enjoyed their rivalry (even if he'd never admit it to anyone else). Sonic was a worthy opponent to hone your skills against.

Closing the door silently behind him, Shadow left the hallway and continued ahead. He was close now. Silently, he went over the instructions in his head. He had to do this just right…

When he had reached his final destination, Shadow once again paused and listened for signs of movement. Almost jumping out of his skin as he heard the faint beep on his arm, he lifted his wrist to his mouth and hissed into the receiver.

"What, Rouge?!"

"Where are you?"

"Right outside the control room. Going in now, keep me updated on his whereabouts"

"Roger!"

As Shadow slowly stalked into the room, Rouge put him on hold, now busily tracking another signal on the gadget. She appeared fully focused on her task, not paying attention to anything around her.

Sonic, meanwhile, shifted once more in his hiding place inside the vent. He itched to move, to _do_ something already. All this waiting was just wrecking his nerves. It almost began to remind him of the endless wait in the cell. Okay, so it wasn't as bad as _that_ had been, but it was still annoying…

He mumbled something to himself, only to guiltily quiet down again after turning his gaze up, the white bat glaring at him from above.

"You. Be still and shut up!"

Rolling his eyes, Sonic tried to lie comfortably on his stomach, chin resting on his hands. He amused himself by flicking his ears back and forth. Left, right. Both forward. Both flicked back. Right back again, left back…

Rouge almost threw her boot at his head, hissing at his stupid antics. He threw her an innocent glance when he noticed her death glare.

"You know, if you don't want me here, I could run off and help Shadow cause some more trouble for Baldy McNosehair down there…"

Rouge stopped for a moment, actually considering this. At this point, she was willing to take the risk to get him out of her sight. Maybe… She lifted her wrist to her mouth again.

"Shadow?"

"What now? I'm busy."

"Eggman appears to be near the tunnel, going by the latest issued commands in his database. I'm considering sending Big Blue down there as a distraction."

"Why? He'll just get caught again. Better he ran off with his tail between his legs." Shadow's voice sounded strained, as if he was lifting something heavy. "He's of no use to us now."

Rouge paused, eyeing the blue hedgehog who seemed to have noticed they were talking about him. He looked impatient as well as curious. He couldn't very well tap his foot while on his stomach, but he was having a good try.

"You know him, though. He's not gonna give up. And I can't keep him here much longer. Either he'll give our position away, or he'll run off on his own, I'm sure of it."

"Fine"

Shadow ended the transmission, more occupied with his current task inside the control room, with little thought to spare for the impatient one currently keeping his work partner company. Not his problem, anyway.

Turning his attention to the blue hedgehog again, Rouge smirked at him.

"Alright Sonic, ready for some action?"

Sonic didn't need to hear her words to read the expression on her face.

"Bring it on!"

* * *

Rouge hoped he'd instructed him clearly enough. Mostly, she'd gestured, pointed and spoken, slowly and loudly, to get the message across. Go into the tunnel. Distract Eggman. If possible, get him to follow you to the surface. GUN is coming. Bring Eggman to GUN. Don't do anything stupid. Don't take risks. And most important of all, don't get yourself caught again, you spiky blue idiot.

She had stressed the last part especially.

Without further ado, after that she'd waved him off as he gleefully raced down through the rooms and hallways.

Sighing in relief at being alone again, Rouge once more turned back to tracking the signal, whispering to no one in particular.

"The rest is up to you now, boys…"

* * *

Tails had been in many fearful situations in his young life, but he had gotten spoiled, in a way – it had been many years now since he'd been in one of them _alone. _He missed his big brother with a fierce passion, and it was even worse to not know where Sonic was. Or even if he was still in the base!

He had been stalking through the upper levels of the base, ever mindful of any signs of robots or worse, Eggman himself. So far, things had seemed unnaturally quiet and he had begun to fear a trap of some kind. Hopefully Shadow was still keeping Eggman busy elsewhere.

Not knowing the layout of the base, he had moved around in a haphazard sort of way, hoping to come across some sort of holding area. After almost twenty minutes of nerve-wracking searching, he had been rewarded – this was definitely a prison area stretching out before him. He had carefully walked along the rows, looking for any signs of life and fearing for the worst.

Gasping when coming upon the last cell, he had noted the chains and even worse – the blood, now dried a dull brown, on the floor. Sonic must have been here. But had he escaped, or been moved elsewhere? Was he already too late? Tails hugged himself, feeling a chill go through his body.

"Sonic…" he whispered, ears flattening themselves against his skull.

After what felt like an eternity, he continued forward, now feeling even more nervous. He severely hoped he wasn't too late.

* * *

Eggman heaved himself into the waiting hover pod with a strained huff. So much running! This was not good for his body and he deserved a rest already, Chaos dammit. He could feel disgusting sweat down his back and his breath was hitching in his throat. How did the hedgehog make this running business look so easy, anyway?

Speak of the devil… Just as the pod left the ground, hovering tentatively a metre or two above it, he heard that familiar high-speed swoosh, his face a show of purest surprise as he blinked and looked down.

"You…?!"

Sonic stopped below him, grinning widely.

"Hey! Ready for another round? I was thinking best out of three, since we've scored even the last couple of times…"

Not sure if he was very lucky or very unfortunate, Eggman had the pod climb higher into the air. He knew from experience that the hedgehog could jump like a cat and he wasn't thrilled with the idea of having him reach him. He had to get to the launch pad, and fast, or it would all be over.

"I've no time for you, blasted _insectivore_!"

The indignant yelling was unnecessary, of course, seeing how he wouldn't get a reply, but he couldn't help himself. How did the hedgehog know when to appear, over and over?! He had assumed that he was far gone by now and he could feel his rage instantly boiling the minute he saw that trademark grin.

Sonic felt a dull roar, familiar by now, course through his skull as the adrenaline poured through his veins, followed by what felt like just the slightest hint of Eggman's voice, though he couldn't make out what he said. Was that… did he…? He almost stumbled on the spot before catching himself and continuing forward.

Shaking his head, Sonic took off after Eggman. He had no time to stop and ponder things now. Still, he couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of hope in his chest. Could his hearing be returning? Even if it was to remain… different from here on, it would still be a huge improvement. It was gone now and the world was dead quiet again, but this time he had been almost certain. He _had_ heard something!

Laughing gleefully, his voice containing just a slight hint of exhilaration as well as the barest touch of his usual foolishness, he tore off after the doctor above him. The pod was pretty fast, but nowhere near as fast as the overexcited blue hedgehog below, of course. For Sonic, this was little more than a pleasant jog. A warm up. Nothing. Should he run off ahead or stay behind? So many options for distracting his nemesis…

Eggman noted the hedgehog's excitement with some worry, to put it lightly. Especially at his unexpected laugh. Perhaps Sonic was going crazy by now… who knew what the… excitement… in the last couple of days had done to his mind. He had pushed him pretty far during their "games". Or perhaps the screech had damaged more than his ears. Not that he had considered Sonic to be fully sane before that, mind you. Still, he had a few tricks up his sleeve before he was ready to throw in the towel.

Bringing up his trusted intercom, Eggman roared a command into it. At almost the same time, he flicked a switch on the pod's controls, turning off the small light on the front. With another quick flick, the internal auto-pilot was activated, the destination set on the launch pad, kilometres away, outside of the tunnel. Soon he could simply kick back, relax and let the rest take care of itself.

Suddenly, the tunnel was bathed in complete darkness at the doctor's whispered command. The long passageway was completely devoid of sunlight of any kind and now missed the faint yet crucial electronic lights above as well. Sonic stopped with a low curse as his world was once more not only completely quiet, but utterly dark as well. He had no way of navigating – again.

"Damn…"


	9. Chapter 9

Author's note: I got nothing to add here really… But I can brace you, another cliffhanger is coming *hides*

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Eggman couldn't help it, a wide grin plastered on his face. He was appreciating Sonic's condition more and more – it'd never been this easy to render him helpless before! Still wearing a smug expression, he leaned back and let the hover pod find its way to the end of the tunnel, arms crossed behind his head and feet crossed at the ankles.

Sonic, meanwhile, was carefully running forward, though at a – for him – very low speed, arms spread out in front of him rather than held back in their usual position. He knew the general direction to go in, but he was slightly worried about accidentally running into a wall or tripping over something – at a higher speed, doing so could mean a great deal of pain as well as considerable injury. Furthermore, he knew that Eggman would know where he was, by sound if not by sight, and he didn't want to pose as a sitting duck in case he had any weapons equipped on that pod. Better, if possible, to stay behind the doctor than in front of him for the time being…

He almost stumbled in surprise when, once more, he unexpectedly heard a low rumble go through his head. With particular stress on _heard_. It was faint at best, his ears straining to pick it up, but it was there. The whirr of the hover pod? The sound seemed to come and go and the pitch was sort of odd but, unlike earlier times, now the noise seemed to come back every time after disappearing, even if at random intervals, coursing through his skull... After things being quiet for so long, it seemed almost unbearably loud. In one way, it was sort of annoying – like a broken speaker, the sounds that reached his ears in a haphazard sort of way, interrupted by occasional silence, were hard to follow and under any other circumstances, it would have been irritating – but currently, it was sweet, sweet music to his straining ears.

Sonic was very much a straightforward fellow. He left tricks and foolings to his enemies, preferring brutal honesty in battle as well as the rest of his life. There was a first for everything though... Perhaps he'd be able to get the upper edge again, if Eggman didn't know he was able to make out at least some sounds again... Feeling quite pleased with himself, he sped up ever so slightly, keeping up with the rumbling object somewhere above him, just barely making out where it was moving.

"Shadow?"

The mentioned dark hedgehog whipped around, his fingers already ready to throw the next Chaos spear, the very air appearing to be crackling ominously. He had been so intent on his task that he hadn't heard the fox enter the room. Tails could be surprisingly sneaky when he had the mind to, apparently, and it unnerved the hedgehog all the more that he hadn't heard him coming.

"Where's Sonic?" the young mechanic whispered, instantly fearing for the worst. His blue eyes were wide and his namesake tails twitched. He didn't think he could stand stalking through the corridors any longer. The constant alarms seemed much too loud, as if they were beating to the same rhythm as his heart, pounding in his chest. He was expecting one of Eggman's deadly mechas to pop out any second. In short, he was terrified. This in itself wasn't like him – he usually took similar missions in stride – but there was just so much at stake right now, and nothing he'd seen so far had been re-assuring…

"He's not here" Shadow muttered matter-of-factly. He turned his back to the young fox, once more going back to his task. "Rouge sent him to the tunnel to distract the doctor."

"What?" Tails sounded shocked. His nervousness be damned, he had to find out more through the eerie hedgehog. "He's fighting in his condition? I saw the cell! Shadow, what's going on? What tunnel?"

The black hedgehog frowned as he grabbed two of the wires. What had Rouge told him... Red or blue? He called for her in his wrist. No reply. Cursing lowly, he glared at the wires again, daring them to disintegrate before his eyes.

"Shadow... Answer me, please!"

Tails was starting to get angry. How could Shadow ignore him like this?! He knew what Sonic meant to Tails. To all of them! Angrily, he looked at the wires clutched in the hedgehog's hand.

"It's the blue one" he murmured. Shadow picked up his words, if just barely. He turned his gaze back to the fox.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes. I've seen similar set ups of his before. Tell me what happened to my brother…"

Competently, the fox strode up to the control board as he took as a deep breath. His anger had been replaced by grim determination. He had to remain calm through this whole spectactle and he took a deep breath.

A great snarl of wires, cables and electronics littered the floor around the opened boards. Rouge had warned Shadow that Eggman had rigged the system. It was essential that it was disconnected in exactly the right way. Why he had to be the one doing this job, he had no idea, but Shadow had assumed that he would be able to handle it and hadn't questioned it at the time. He was the ultimate lifeform, after all...

Even so, Shadow stepped back willingly as the young fox sat down on his knees among the tangles. Competent sky blue eyes took in every part of the setup within seconds, noting especially a series of thin black wires, attached and running through every part of the machinery. At once, he could tell that the system was rigged - set to explode if feeling any disturbance in the flow of electronics, most likely. He swallowed. Nothing like a challenge, right? He turned to Shadow.

"I can handle this. Go and help Sonic at least, if you won't tell me what's going on!"

He wanted so bad to ask how Sonic was doing. Was he still deaf? Was he hurt? What chance did he stand?

Shadow finally paid his clear worries some concern.

"Just cuts and bruises. Still deaf, but he hasn't given up yet"

Tails nodded grimly as Shadow turned and left. At least he knew Sonic had backup coming his way now.

* * *

Rouge shook her head as a particularly strong wind ruffled her headfur. She was directing the commander to their position, describing the security on location to the best of their knowledge. GUN was coming... But she knew at this rate, they wouldn't be fast enough. She hoped the hedgehogs had been successful at their respective tasks, or they would be too late.

* * *

The light at the end of the tunnel - literary! Sonic sped up further, overshooting the doctor and exiting the tunnel as he saw the first signs of light ahead. He then blinked as light erupted all around him once he was out. Filtered through great trees as it was, it still felt very bright on his eyes accustomed to the dark. The sun had just began to rise over the tree tops and the light was almost unbearable at first. The wind ruffled his quills ever so slightly and he instantly felt more relaxed in this welcoming environment.

No time to lose, though. Sonic glared up at Eggman as the pod climbed the air upon exiting the tunnel, already too high for him to reach. Perhaps he could drag an answer out of him, though, to get him going in the right direction...

"Where are you going, Eggman?!"

He didn't expect a response but still, worth a shot, right? He almost gaped when the doctor did reply, though it was still very hard for him to make out the words, most of it a dull mumble at best. It was as if he was listening to someone above the surface while he himself was under water. Dull and distant. And still so very faint.

At the last moment during the doctor's brief (and angered) speech, Sonic remembered to put on a mask of indifference, as to not give away any clues to the mad scientist... That he could hear now, if only barely. It was hard to not flick his ears in an attempt to pick up more sound but he managed.

"Pest... Missile... Adabat..."

Eggman, never one to miss the chance to gloat, must have felt confident sharing his plans, certain that Sonic couldn't hear them anyway. His words were accompanied by wide gestures, especially a particular one involving his middle finger. Clearly, the doctor was in a very, very bad mood. Perhaps that's why he was letting his guard drop and not really considering what he was doing. Or to whom he was speaking, for that matter.

Sonic sighed. The missiles, damn. He had hoped Rouge was taking care of that, but apparently Eggman was still ready to fire them. Or at least one, for somewhere here in Adabat…

Suddenly, he felt a great chill go through his body. He couldn't have aimed it at the centre, could he? The place was currently swarming with scientists - people with the potential of coming up with new ways to stop Eggman in the future. Not to mention, people who had shunned his research and had him removed from all scientific circles for years. It fit too well.

Sonic shot off at top speed. He didn't know where the launch pad was, but he should have time to find it before Eggman's hover pod arrived... Right?

* * *

Tails wiped sweat off his brow. He was almost finished. Just one wire left. This was it. Either he'd succeed or the control board was successfully disarmed or... Well, he preferred not to think about it. If nothing else, it should be quick enough that none of them still in the building would have time to feel much...

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he grabbed a firm hold of the last wire and readied himself to rip it out.

* * *

Shadow ran slowly through the dark tunnel, cursing his bad luck. He had known that the many miles long tunnel would let him move him faster than going through the dense jungle, which is why he'd gone down here in the first place... But not when it was so dark that he couldn't even see his own hands in front of him! At this rate, it would have been quicker to go through the undergrowth after all. The only thing that lit his way was the sparks of his jet shoes, as well as the occasional Chaos spear he shot in front of him, to vent his anger as much as to light his way. Such a marvellous way to use Chaos energy – as a torch in a blasted underground tunnel - he thought grimly to himself.

As he finally drew closer to the exit, Shadow poured on the speed and revelled in the light once more surrounding him. He could hear the sound of Sonic running and set off in that general direction.

* * *

Eggman glared down at the hedgehog running away from him. Where was he going, anyway? He wasn't running off now, was he? With a huff, he turned and moved towards the launch pad. Only to be met, seconds later, with Sonic once more running under him and continuing in this new direction. The same direction the doctor had been going in.

"Going this way, actually!" Sonic waved up at him, having realized that this was apparently the right way.

He continued forward for less than a minute at high speed until he reached a cleared area, a metal platform of some sort with a control board. Off in the near distance, what appeared to be a large hole in the ground, covered by a thick lid and with warning signs around it, as well as sporting a particular trademark moustache-wearing face as a symbol, provided an ominous sign. Was that what he thought it was…?

Cursing, Sonic considered what to do next. In front of him was the odd little control board, not entirely unlike the one in the fort's control room, though considerably smaller and appearing less advanced. Still, why did there always have to be so many buttons on these things?! None stood out as an obvious "Undo" option either... This was really Tails' area of expertise, not his. He bit his lip and glared up at the doctor above him.

Eggman, on his part, didn't look especially pleased either when he arrived moments later. The hedgehog had reached the platform before him. How had he even known what to look for?! He had to get to that control board to launch the missile. Go figure the blue pest had to stand in his way, like always!

Fortunately he wasn't entirely unprepared. He called on his trusted intercom and it wasn't long before another mecha appeared. It was the same one that he'd fought when he'd gotten captured, apparently stationed nearby as a guard. It still sported a number of cuts and was missing paint in some areas, but it looked like smaller robots had been working on bringing it back into order, even if they hadn't had time to finish the job.

The mad doctor wasted no time, siccing the robot on Sonic who merely snorted. This time he was more prepared than during their previous encounter. As much as he disliked the doctor, Sonic had gone through pains as to not kill or badly damage him in their last fight. He had no such qualms about taking out this robot acting on its own, though. His subconscious was well familiar with how the robot worked by now and he wouldn't make the same mistakes as before, having learnt his lesson well. Turning his back to the doctor, he focused on the mechanical opponent instead of paying the human any attention.

Launching himself towards the robot, Sonic didn't notice that a plain robot attack was apparently not Eggman's whole plan – he yelled suddenly out as he felt an unexpected burning sensation on his back. It had just grazed him, but it was painful all the same. Unfortunately, the distraction was enough to send him flying as the mecha met his intended attack with a powerful slap that sent him flying and his head spinning.

Sonic managed to catch himself as he landed, if only barely. He turned to Eggman with an angry look on his face, carefully finding his balance again as he did so.

"Hey doc, shooting me in the back?! Not cool!"

Eggman merely grinned in response, lifting the laser gun higher again and taking new aim. At the same time, the mecha moved closer, ready for another round. Sonic wasted no time, getting up and running towards the robot. He chose a zigzagging pattern, knowing that Eggman didn't have the skill to keep up with his movements at full speed. No, the problem would lay in whenever he had to slow down and perform an actual attack. Especially as the robot was fairly large… He'd have to climb his way up to get a good hit. That would leave him wide open to Eggman's weapon. He shook his shoulders slightly as he felt a trickle of blood running down his back. Good thing that last hit had just grazed him, or he'd been down for the count. Again.

"This time you're going down, you pesky blue fiend!" Eggman bellowed behind him, though Sonic couldn't really make it out and was too focused on other matters to care either way. His sensitive ears were completely filled with the dull roar of the mecha and he already felt a pounding headache, unwittingly slowing him down as he winced at every random hiss or screech of the electronics around him. On top of that, he was still exhausted, not having received any proper rest since his nap in the cell, and nothing to eat since the day before. With a metabolism like his and now running on empty, this didn't bode well…

Panting, ears laid back, he crouched and readier himself for the next attack, eyes flitting between the lurching mecha and the doctor aiming his gun at his head behind him.

Time to give them your all, hedgehog.

* * *

Tails sighed and paused to wipe sweat off his face. This was the very last step. Time to put his knowledge to the real test. If he'd done this right, the control board would die after the final cut and the missiles would be unable to fire. If he did it wrong, everything would explode. Truly, Tails couldn't be blamed for hesitating. This was his life on the line. And quite possibly everyone else's too, depending on large the explosion would end being. He wasn't certain.

Sending out a silent plea to Sonic to please, please be okay, Tails clenched his jaw and grabbed a firmer hold on the small tool in his hands.

"Here we go…"

* * *

Thanking his legendary lightning reflexes, Sonic jumped to the side at the last chance, avoiding another shot, this time aimed at his chest. He came to a stop but instead of standing up instantly tucked and rolled away as the mecha's arm came down with a crash where he'd just landed.

Picking up speed, Sonic turned the roll into a spindash, barely suppressing a grin as he finally got a real hit in. The robot took a step back, trying to find its balance again and now sporting an impressive dent on its side.

Sonic landed once more, wasting no time as he instantly took off again, circling the robot and hoping to get some protection from Eggman by putting the robot between them. This unfortunately didn't work too well as Eggman simply had the hoverpod rise higher into the air, giving him a good overview of the area.

"I'd tell you to give up already… not that it'd do much good, you deaf little rat!" he yelled as he took new aim.

Sonic snorted, torn between playing along with the ruse and finally letting Eggman know that he _could_ hear now thank you very much… a bit, anyway. He supposed it was best to keep the charade a bit longer, unless he…

…His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard a familiar sound and whipped his head around, eyes blinking in surprise as a sudden blast of searing energy came flying… at him?!

Jumping to the side and out of harm's way, Sonic still felt the unmistakable pulling, burning sensation of the crackling Chaos energy in the air. The spear had landed straight in the mecha's chest. Not aimed for him, but certainly close enough that he could have gotten hurt, had he stayed in the same place. He supposed the other one had counted on him to get out of the way, but still…

"Shadow!" he cried out, torn between relief at seeing his rival and anger at his risky behaviour.

The doctor cursed and looked down at the black hedgehog, who was aiming another spear, this time at Eggman himself. He knew from first-hand experience that Shadow, unlike Sonic, wouldn't hesitate to kill if protocol required it, so he harboured no false hope about getting any mercy here. Instead, he shot forward in his pod, at the same time commanding the mecha to get the hedgehogs out of the way.

Seeing his target move closer to Sonic, Shadow instead lowered his aim and let the next spear go towards the mecha, which fortunately provided a shield as Sonic was once more almost in harm's way. With a glare towards Shadow, Sonic took the opportunity to jump at Eggman instead, landing on the hoverpod's edge and making it tilt oddly with the extra weight. Sonic wasn't heavy, but the pod hadn't been constructed for the extra weight hanging on its side and affecting its momentum.

At the unexpected turn of events – he hadn't foreseen Sonic literary attaching himself to the pod – Eggman shrieked and dove towards the ground, landing clumsily and using Sonic's surprise to jump out. He could, perhaps surprisingly, be pretty agile when pressed so hard, it would seem… Fortunately he was only a step away from the control board at this point and was assisted by his mecha keeping Shadow at bay still.

Eggman held his hand above a particular button. Behind him, Sonic was getting to his feet and clearly ready to run straight at him, throwing a quick glance behind him to make sure the mecha was occupied elsewhere.

"One more move and I blow the Science centre to pieces!"

Eggman glared at Sonic, expecting his message to be clear even to deaf ears. He grinned widely, madness in his gaze. He was cornered and he knew it, but if he was going down, he could at least assure that he was going down with a boom. Literary.

Sonic stopped, eyes firmly on the mad doctor. He crossed his arms, to the world appearing at ease, maybe even bored, but inside every muscle tense and ready for action.

Shadow had just let loose a final spear, the mecha unceremoniously dropping to the ground, now little more than a pile of broken, smoking machinery. It was at that moment he heard Eggman's words and looked ahead to him and the blue hedgehog.

"One step from either of you and it all ends!" Eggman leered, finger still hovering inches above the button.

Shadow knew he wasn't bluffing. He only hoped Tails knew what he was doing or chances were he'd just doomed them all, if the missile was fired. Not to mention all the greatest scientific minds on the planet were about to die. Guarding them was what he and Rouge had originally been sent here for and it looked like they may just have failed… He had no way of knowing whether Tails had managed to take care of the rigged controls or not.

Eggman very nearly pressed the button in surprise, catching himself at the last moment, when suddenly all three heard a loud explosion several kilometres away, at the base itself.

* * *

Author's note: DUN DUN DUN.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's note: Things are drawing to an end and this is the final chapter. Hope you've enjoyed the story! I got a good learning experience writing it for sure. Though I marvel at people who manage to write 200k+ word stories, I have no idea how they do it lol. For me, this story feels a bit short and rushed, but I hope I can learn to do better for the next one, whenever I can think of an idea to use lol.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Rouge jumped with a gasp at the unexpected sudden explosion.

"Shadow?" she called frantically into her wrist gadget. No response. Had he failed, was he…? She couldn't believe it. She left her spot by the roof, flying straight towards the control boards of the base. She had memorized the layout and she'd get there in no time. With Eggman elsewhere, she wasn't concerned with being discovered any more. This was more important by far. Hopefully Shadow had taken out the whole defence system, as well, so that she could at least get there safely.

A good distance away, Sonic and Shadow were both standing still, eyeing Eggman as he glared at the duo. Sonic had managed to make out a faint noise that sounded suspiciously like an explosion, but he had no reason to worry. Probably Rouge working on the base, right? There had been lots of noises going on at all times anyway, he assumed.

Shadow was more concerned, but saw no reason to render the blue hedgehog incapable of continuing by bringing up his worries and risk Sonic breaking down completely. Better he kept fighting for now. They could deal with their losses later. Chaos knew Sonic would be heartbroken… Shadow tried for a mask of indifference over his features, arms crossed and ears held back in barely controlled aggression.

"This is as far as you'll go. This madness ends here!" Eggman growled at them, finger very slowly going lower, lower… Millimetres away from the button that would end it all.

Would they be able to stop him on time? Sonic doubted it. He was fast, but Eggman needed only the slightest split second to press the button. Even he wouldn't be fast enough to tackle him to the ground before he touched it…

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion, as if time stood still. The button remained untouched, but if Eggman decided to press it now... Could they stall him long enough to distract him? Give them enough time...?

"Shadow?" Sonic instead whispered fiercely, eyes not leaving Eggman's face. He kept his voice low, the name little more than a breath on his lips.

Shadow looked at him, but didn't reply. As far as he knew, Sonic still couldn't hear so there was no point in wasting his breath saying something back. Whatever Sonic wanted to say, he could say even if he couldn't hear it himself.

"Any ideas?" Sonic continued, finally turning his gaze back to the other, if only for a split second. Looking for re-assurance. Confidence. Anything.

Pursing his lips, Shadow glared back. Slowly, his arm rose, a last ditch effort that he didn't really expect would work. Unexpectedly, Eggman interrupted him before Sonic could sense even the slightest pull of Chaos energy moving through the air.

"Ah ah ah. You don't want that, dearest Shadow…" he all but purred and noted with satisfaction that Shadow indeed heeded his call, arm lowering again even as he bristled in righteous anger. Eggman had seen through that, too.

"Still!" the doctor continued "I suppose you have a point. There's no point in stalling this any further, is there? If I'm going down… I'm taking them with me!"

Too late. Too fast.

With a glee and with madness shining from his every feature, he finally pressed down his finger, straight into the cursed button. With twin shouts, Sonic and Shadow both threw themselves towards him to stop him.

Sonic reached Eggman first, despite his fatigue, adrenaline once more pumping through his veins, painfully twisting the doctor's arm away even as Shadow tackled his chest, sending all three of them crashing to the ground. Even so, it was already too late. The button had been pressed. They couldn't do anything but look towards the metal lid-covered hole some distance off as Eggman laughed cruelly at them, even in his undignified position on the ground. Any second now, the lid would be removed and the deadly missile would take off… It didn't matter than he had been caught, the deed was done no matter what would happen to him now.

* * *

"Shadow?" Rouge called hesitantly as she climbed into the control room through a small window on the far side. She expected carnage, broken mechanics, blood… _pieces_…

…And as a result got very, very surprised when she was met not with the bloody splattered remains of her dark-furred comrade among broken litter, but instead a fully intact room, tangled wires all over the floor like a massive pit of snakes and an equally surprised – if for different reasons – young fox blinking up at her sudden entry.

* * *

The soldier glanced down, looking for an opening between the trees. Rouge had given them the co-ordinates and he knew he was still some way off, but he couldn't help himself. Time was of extreme importance, if their intelligence was correct. He only wished they'd gotten the okay to go ahead earlier. From what he understood, things were quite a tangle down there. The informant had insisted that they would handle things themselves, but personally he wished they'd been sent there at the first suspicion of activity. Time would tell if the right decision had been made...

He jumped in surprise in his seat when he saw an explosion some distance off. Was that it?

Calling for his comrades over the intercom, they began to prepare to land as soon as they reached their final destination.

* * *

"Rouge?"

"What… where…" the bat uncharacteristically stuttered, landing beside Tails. "Where's Shadow? Is everything okay here?"

"Oh. Well, yes. It appears everything has been sorted correctly here. I… I asked Shadow to help Sonic. Where are they?"

Tails stood, wiping his hands on his knees and stretching carefully. Relief at his success did not begin to describe how he was currently feeling, but he also knew it was far too early to celebrate. He had no idea what Eggman was up to, or in what condition Sonic currently was in. He just hoped that Shadow had reached him on time and helped him with whatever he was doing. Since Rouge appeared surprised as opposed to terrified or exhausted, he hoped that was a good sign. He wasn't really that amazed to see her here, since he already knew Shadow was nearby. Still, his heart was still beating faster than usual and his breath a little quicker.

"Last I heard, in the underground tunnel, but I expect they've gotten out of there since then. I just hope they stopped him on time…" the bat trailed off, looking up at the wall. The pressure was getting to her too, even if she didn't want to admit it.

"Look, we have to help them. I've disabled the missiles – I think – but who knows what else Eggman has up his sleeve. You never know what to expect with him. Do you know where they are?"

Tails wasn't used to taking the command, in particular not around people twice his age, but with the adrenaline still coursing through his veins, he found himself almost naturally taking control of the situation. It was, even if he had never thought of it that way, a role he had come to assume naturally around Sonic. The hyperactive hedgehog needed some form of stability to keep him in working order, and that's what Tails had unintentionally, but confidently, provided him with. A brain to his brawn, if you will, a role that fit him well even if he assumed it mostly at a subconscious level.

Rouge almost couldn't help a smile as she listened to the assertive young fox. His blue eyes shone with determination and a type of inner strength she couldn't help but admire. She suspected with eyes like those, he'd grow up to quite the ladykiller one day, too… This was no time for such thoughts, though. Instead, she nodded and motioned for him.

"I'll show you the way. We'll fly there"

"Just one second" Tails eyes shone with sudden inspiration and he clasped his hands together, now standing by the same window Rouge had entered through. His eyes roamed over the area beneath them, in particular taking in a few prototypes, robots and mechas, standing in a silent line.

"I have an idea…"

* * *

All three of them held their breath for what felt like an eternity. Shadow had gotten off Eggman's chest, but the trio was still standing close together, tense and expectant. Three pairs of eyes were focused on the missile launching area. Nothing had happened however and eventually, Sonic turned to Eggman, one blue eye ridge raised.

"So… What's supposed to happen, exactly?"

Eggman, on his part, now looked not only angry, but also rather worried. Something was clearly wrong. The missile should have fired by now! And as if that wasn't enough, he was way too close for his comfort to the spiked duo. He knew he could trust Sonic to not badly hurt him (he hoped, anyway) but who knew what Shadow was capable of. Clearing his throat, he considered if he'd be able to jump to his pod and grab his laser-based little weapon toy. He had left it behind when he threw himself at the controls...

All three turned their eyes up when they heard the flutter of a helicopter above. Not just one, actually, but several. Military vehicles were coming in over them. GUN? Their timing wasn't too bad, for once.

Shadow, however, quickly turned his attention to Sonic instead. He had noted that the hedgehog had looked up when they heard the noise. Not as quickly as him and the doctor, granted, but still…

"Sonic, can you…" he began, but didn't have time to finish the sentence as Eggman suddenly took off at a surprisingly alert sprint. The pod was nearby and he needed only to take a few steps to get there. If he was just quick enough…

Sonic had turned his head to Shadow upon hearing his name, answering Shadow's question right there, through that action alone… he couldn't resist a grin on his features.

"It's coming back!" he admitted. He didn't mention that his hearing was still far from normal – at this point he was grateful that he could hear anything at all. Not wasting time, he leaped after the doctor who was too intent on his task to pay the hedgehogs any attention.

Unfortunately, with the unintentional delay caused by Shadow's question, his speed was not quite enough this time, not when Eggman had such a short distance to go and he hadn't expected him to take off like that… Sonic stopped, shoes making a faint screech as he suddenly found the weapon aimed straight at this face.

Before he'd even considered his next option, however, he saw the doctor falter and take a step back, features suddenly a shade paler and looking even less confident than before. His arm unceremoniously lowered again, knowing this was a battle he wouldn't win. Sonic snuck a glance behind him, and laughed with joy.

"Tails!"

Indeed, the grinning fox was approaching them, flanked by Rouge a-wing. Tails was sitting in… a robot? A mecha, to be more exact. Go figure the fox would have found some piece of machinery to work with, even here…

Shadow let out a sign of relief of his own. Tails was okay. Good. Not that he considered the fox a friend as such, but he wouldn't have wanted to be the one facing Sonic's wrath upon hearing about the fox's demise, at any rate. He knew Sonic saw Tails as his little brother and he also knew that if someone dared hurt him, Sonic would see red.

"You?!" Eggman cried out. "And what are you doing with MY mecha?!"

Tails waved happily at the hedgehogs, not bothering to reply to the doctor. Instead, he raised one of the arms of the mecha, straight at Eggman's face. The red laser aim had already been on and ready, and was now aimed solidly at the doctor's chest.

"Give it up. You know this 'bot is quicker than your hand!"

Eggman's hesitation was enough, and but a split second later he found himself not only with his own mecha's arm – courtesy of a certain fox – aimed straight at him, but the gun had been knocked out of his hand by Sonic while Shadow was showing every sign of being ready to let go of one of his infamous Chaos spears at any second. This time, Eggman had no leverage. At all.

Huffing, the doctor crossed his arms. Naturally, at that exact moment GUN finally arrived at the scene as well, a throng of soldiers shouting for him to raise his arms above his head instead. It looked like he was, once again, being taken to their quarters. It wasn't the first time and truthfully, he had no fear at the prospect as such – he knew he would be able to break out soon enough – but this base was, without question, done for. All that work for nothing… At least he got a good – if unintentional – hit on that blue pest. Always something that Sonic was deaf now. Perhaps his next base could be inside a cave, a dark place, somewhere someone without working ears would be at a severe disadvantage…

Sonic figured this was as good a chance as any as he watched the soldiers pour in, and as Tails approached them as well, he stole the opportunity to look straight at his nemesis.

"Oh, and also, Eggman. Just so you know, my hearing's back again!"

Eggman didn't dignify him with a reply.

* * *

After Eggman's capture, mostly handled by GUN with the assistance of Shadow and Rouge, Sonic and Tails had finally been re-united. Sonic had been slightly hesitant at first, dreading the young fox's rightful anger at his previous behaviour, but had been pleasantly surprised as Tails had seemed nothing but genuinely happy. They had used the time together in the helicopter, taking them back to the science centre, to catch up and piece together just exactly had happened in the last day. It was strange to think that so much had happened in only about 24 hours.

Tails had, naturally, been ecstatic to hear that Sonic was able to hear again, even though it was still fairly evident that his hearing wasn't quite restored – he had to strain to listen and still had trouble making out individual words, unless you spoke very clearly and kept eye contact with him. As soon as they got back, the plan was to take Sonic to the hospital to have him checked out. This time, the stubborn hedgehog hadn't disagreed with Tails' judgment, at least.

"Did you figure out where that explosion came from, anyway?" Sonic asked, his (still slightly loud) voice curious and playful. He finally sounded like himself again, Tails thought.

"I… yes, we did. Rouge checked it out while I did the adjustments to Eggman's mecha, right before we went to get you guys. Apparently he had another Egg Mantis in the base. I guess it really _was_ a prototype because it just kind of… exploded. Whatever he was doing with those particular robots, it wasn't working…"

Sonic shook his head in amusement at that and Tails couldn't help but giggle either. Leaning back into their seats, they anticipated the moment they'd be back to civilization. Sonic was staying cheerful, but it was pretty evident by now that he'd taken quite a beating. The last day had been incredibly intense for him, worse than usual, especially with his lack of food and rest.

Tails quieted down as well, thinking of his beloved plane. He could probably get it back into working order, but he wasn't sure how he'd even get it out of the jungle. And that was only provided it hadn't been found by someone, or gnawed at by ferals, or swept away by a sudden flood… He sighed, then shook his head. At least his big brother was okay. That was, after all, what was most important.

* * *

They were greeted with great enthusiasm once the helicopter had dropped them off at the Centre. The duo's sudden absence had been noted with concern, and they had wondered what had happened with them – especially considering Tails' had left all their gadgets behind… minus the plane, of course. A few had debated that perhaps Eggman was up to his tricks again which had raised some commotion, but in the end they had been blissfully ignorant of all that had gone on around them. Still, things had been rather worrying. Especially as Shadow and Rouge had left so early on, on the very first day, after they had been stationed to maintain security.

It was only a select few that were later informed that it had originally been Rouge who had noticed strange lights while out for an evening flight during a break. She had left her position to break into the base, spying for GUN as well as informing Shadow of Eggman's latest whereabouts and his plans. Of course, that had been when Sonic and Tails had run into the doctor as well, making things a whole lot more complicated.

Once the helicopters had landed, Sonic and Tails had been greeted with surprise as well as joy by everyone currently residing in the facility, and it wasn't long until they were found in the cafeteria, Sonic stuffing his face with much-needed food as he enthusiastically told the crowd of their recent adventure. Well accustomed to being in the spotlight, he had no problems talking about everything they had been through, though he left out the bit about losing his hearing (some people did wonder at the odd tone of his voice and apparent lack of attention to those asking questions, but were too enthralled to comment about it) and shortened down the telling of his capture and time of prisoner considerably. They didn't need to hear that. A lot more focus was put into Tails' heroic work, risking his life for everyone's safety and using his skills to disarm the missiles. The technologically interested crowd was especially well suited for listening to those bits of the story, many commenting on his evident knowledge of such advanced set-ups.

The young fox couldn't help but blush at the crowd's unmistakable appreciation for his work. He wasn't nearly as used to being in the spotlight as Sonic was and wasn't quite sure how to react to it. When he had been in the middle of it all, he hadn't really considered his role. He just did what had to be done, that was all.

Sonic had just grinned at his modesty before finally coming to the end of their tale, describing Tails marching up in one of Eggman's mechas and threatening him in great detail.

"He was _so_ badass! Of course, he's learnt from the best, so what can you expect…"

* * *

It had been about a month. Sonic and Tails were back in their workshop at the ruins. At the moment, Tails was busily working on the Tornado. He had successfully managed to get most of it back from Adabat. The price had been pretty steep, though. Rouge had agreed to make GUN help him… eventually. In return, he had to give her his one Chaos emerald. He was still grumbling over that, but Sonic had assured him that they could get it back any time. Or, failing that, take Shadow's when he wasn't looking. Not a good idea at all to attempt, as far as Tails was concerned, but he hadn't been in a mood to really care at the time, upset but at least pleased about the thought of getting his beloved plane back.

Sonic was currently, once more, perched in his favourite tree. He rubbed a blue ear as he watched Tails' below. His hearing was almost fully returned, though there were still moments when it wasn't quite as good as it had been before the accident. Fortunately those times were slowing becoming less common, though. The doctor had thought his hearing would probably be coming back fully with time. Even so, he had been put on strict order to take it easy and let his damaged body recover fully and at its own pace. That included staying away from loud noises of all kinds. The doctor had stressed this especially, though it had been in an exasperated kind of way – he was familiar with Sonic's lifestyle. This particular doctor had had the (mis)fortune of having treated Sonic before and knew that asking the hedgehog to stay out of trouble was about as useful as telling someone else to try to 'not breathe so often'.

"Sonic?" Tails called up, turning to his companion. "It's your turn, remember?"

"What's that, Tails?" Sonic called down below, not really paying the fox much attention, more in the mood for a quick nap than anything else.

"It's your time to go to the city and get us food. Don't tell me you forgot again?"

Ugh. Sonic _really_ did not enjoy shopping. It wasn't the store itself. It wasn't even the crowd bound to stalking him through the aisles. No, what really got him was the lines. Endless waiting lines. Stretching for what felt like miles and miles and miles and all you could do was just stand there and wait and wait…

Eyes flashing with sudden inspiration, he got a sudden idea.

"What, Tails? I can't hear you… It's coming back again…"

"Sonic! I'm not falling for that! I heard the doctor said, I was there too you know!"

Tails truly wasn't fooled, he had heard the doctor's instructions as well as Sonic had (probably heard them better than Sonic did, to be truthful). The hedgehog could hear pretty well now, even if he was still recovering and had his moments, his hearing never truly and fully disappeared any more for any length of time.

Ignoring that little fact, Sonic was clearly attempting to use the "Sorry, I'm deaf and can't help you"-card any way. It was not going to fly with Tails, however.

Still, as he tried to tell Sonic this, he was interrupted.

"This is just terrible! What will I _do_? I better go and see that doctor again and get his advice!"

Sonic was yelling unnecessarily loud, in spite of himself doing a pretty poor imitation of… well, himself, in his previous deaf state. Very dramatically, of course. Flashing his friend a intense saddened gaze, ears drooping and one fist raised in mock distress, he couldn't quite conceal the following grin as he jumped down from the branch and took off. In the opposite direction of the city. Naturally.

Sighing, Tails shook his head. Fine. This happened half the time it was Sonic's turn, anyway, so he wasn't that shocked. Honestly, he didn't mind getting the groceries too much, since he usually used his trips to pick up new parts for his gadgets anyway. Still, it had always seemed more fair that they try to split the household chores…

Even so, Tails was happy that Sonic was able to joke about his previous condition. He had given them all a really bad scare, that was for certain, but it looked like things would go back to normal soon, at least.

Dusting his hands off his knees he stood up next to the plane, now mostly looking like its old self again. He smiled in the direction the hedgehog had gone, not bothering to call after him, instead speaking to himself, feeling quite content.

"See you tonight, Sonic. I'm glad you're okay again!"

* * *

Fin :D


End file.
